Dark Shadows
by Tigressa101
Summary: All is not well on Earth when a Metal Head attack brings up questions about the Dark One's supposed alliance with the Cybertronians, that is until Bumblebee makes a grave discovery that the tiger-dragon may not be in charge anymore, and someone is experimenting with Dark Eco which may have created new Metal Heads. (Work in Progress)
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Something's Wrong

* * *

Grimlock snarled as he watched the small creatures move about under and around him. One blandly sniffed at his clawed feet in curiosity but immediately scurried away when the T-Rex used the same pede to shoo it away since his arms were practically useless.

He peered up to see his beloved Cleopatra (a T-Rex femme) roaring at him to come to dinner which most likely was a dead mammal. She was one of several new femme Dinobot companions Shockwave graciously created for him and his team (Swoop, Snarl, Sludge, Slag, and Scorn) because he felt they were lonely without mates.

Interestingly, their color scheme was black, gold, and purple instead of black, gold, and red like the original Dinobots had.

Grimlock didn't believe it at first, but he admitted silently that it was good to have a queen by his side after a while. He began navigating through the mini on-coming traffic and observed all his fellow Dinobots feasting on their meals.

Swoop and Skydive (a Pterodactyl femme) were eating apparently a group of birds which he did not recognize while Snarl and Striker (a Stegosaurus femme) stuck to a fish-based diet. Sludge and Stride (a Brachiosaurus femme) followed Snarl's feeding idea as well as Slag and Skewer (a Triceratops femme). Scorn and Sliver (a Spinosaurus femme) stuck with Cleopatra's method and munched on a few dead mammals.

The meal was decent although he'd prefer Energon, but the food they had did provide nutrients their bodies needed despite its organic nature.

He growled as more hungry organic creatures tried to take pieces of his dinner until something caught his attention. A little warning light popped up in his mind, and he immediately stormed to the direction of the trees and stopped in front of his group.

Not wanting any of his teammates nor his own mate to get hurt, he bellowed a command and listened as the herd quickly took one last bite of their meals and evacuated the area. Scorn and Slag didn't go as far as the others, for they didn't want their leader to be left with whatever it was.

Grimlock's pede scratched the grass territorially trying to caution the intruder that he was ready to fight. Nothing came forward, but he did spot something moving again and it looked to be as big as him.

Suddenly, a dinosaur-like Metal Head jumped out of the thick woods and to Grimlock's surprise, it appeared to look similar to him but it had a brownish-yellow coloring with many bodily spikes and the well-known skull gem resting on its chest; Gyros.

The Dinobot King remembered what these Metal Heads were known for: their heads rested on cable-constructed necks which hid several hundred sharp daggers that rotated around when unleashed. It made them practically invulnerable from head or upper body strikes because the opponent risked getting cut rapidly in places that would kill most. The monsters even could rotate their heads a full 360 without breaking their spine, which made Grimlock doubt they even had one from the base of the neck up.

Gyros screeched at its opponent before ramming itself into the Dinobot's hip sending the leader stumbling slightly. Soon, both attacked one another and fought off the other fiercely.

Grimlock snagged the Metal Head's tail and with all his might, threw the beast into the nearest obstacle. He charged as the monster recovered and smashed himself into the latter's chest which awarded him with a sickening crack.

Gyros roared out in pain, but looked down to see a dark purple spot grow. It was bleeding internally which it knew would kill it in a matter of minutes. The abominable creature tried to lock its jaws around the Dinobot's throat but missed and slowly sunk to the ground.

The T-Rex snarled and placed a foot on the monster's head before it could unleash its spikes. In one swift movement, he crushed the latter's skull and observed the creature cease to move.

To celebrate his victory, Grimlock barked a mighty bellow once again. The other Dinobots crowded around him and sounded off as well.

However, The Dinobot King was less than happy. The Metal Heads weren't supposed to attack them since the deal the Cybertronians made with Tigressa years ago. Something was wrong, and he wanted answers.

* * *

Cybertron was a lot livelier now than the previous years. Thanks to Optimus' quest to return the Allspark, the planet was now capable of supporting life despite the construction that needed to be done worldwide.

Many had returned and brought sparklings that they had either saved or conceived. The medics were given the job of making sure the younglings were healthy from their time away. Arcee had also found out her sisters and her friends had survived which brought the mechs a sigh of relief, for they didn't want to have any sparklings with each other.

Darkmount held Megatron and his Decepticons for the time being, since their homes were still somewhat rubble, and the Nemesis was used to transport Cybertronians to and from Earth. Most even decided to stay on the blue planet, for they thought it would be better to stay away from their destroyed home until it was fully repaired.

The Autobots, Decepticons, and many others were the usual visitors to Earth because they never could stand to leave their human friends behind. The Dinobots and Predacons stayed on the planet and were taken care of by the said humans.

Life had never been so peaceful, but Optimus found he was still having trouble coaxing Tigressa into helping rebuild their planet and keep the Metal Heads at bay. Apparently, she didn't take the revival of her former enemies' home so well, nor did she appreciate Ghost's contribution on returning those who had fallen back to their original state.

Although he couldn't revive all of them, it still ticked her off that he raised enough of them to repopulate Cybertron again. It bugged her even more that some even had the nerve to stay on the wretched insect planet.

Too bad the darkness she could control was only shadows and the starry night sky. Otherwise, she would have twisted the dark memories in their minds into a contagious madness and made them kill themselves before they stepped foot on Earth. Her telekinesis was only for communication, not mind control.

Optimus always saw the good side of every being like how he always considered the Energon crate half full instead of half empty. Most believed he would be driven insane trying to convert Tigressa to be the opposite of what she is now. Some already considered he had fallen years ago when he first challenged her. The only Cybertronians who knew the truth about the deal were his newly expanded family.

Bumblebee shook himself from his deep thoughts and turned to Knockout who was repairing a few tools Bulkhead had accidently smashed (again). In order to fix a certain tool, however, the metal on it had to be fused together by fire. Luckily, they had a friend who was known for her blistering powers.

The medic held the tool's pieces up to Firefox on a fire-proof tray and flinched as the expanding inferno scorched the metal. He knew her body heat could range up to 8,000 degrees Fahrenheit, but he wasn't willing to find out what the flames coming out of her mouth were in degrees. He had a good idea that it was less than her body's; otherwise, the tool would have been disintegrated by now.

A few minutes had gone by after Firefox stopped her blaze before the tool was once again in working order. Knockout smiled to himself and threw it to Bumblebee to be placed back where it belonged.

"Thanks, Sweetspark! Who knew a molten maker would come in handy in the medical business?" The medic cooed as he stroked the fox's head carefully. He paused for a second to let his hand cool down from rubbing against hot armor openings before returning his thanks again to the happy techno-organic.

Bumblebee couldn't help but pet her as well until one of the Medbay's screens lit up with Elita's stern face covering a good majority of it.

"Bumblebee, Knockout, I need you two…and your…uh…new lab 'assistant' to go to Earth with a few others to check on a certain techno-organic that has recently sent a Gyros to attack the Dinobots."

The warrior's expression changed to one of shock, "Tigressa did what!? What happened to our deal? I mean, there's got to be a mistake. She never did that before in our many years together, why would she do it now?"

Elita frowned, "That is something you'll just have to talk to her about. Grimlock's bombarding us with questions and he's becoming more and more pissed off by the minute. It's your mission now; you deal with it or else…"

She paused and shut her optics sulkily as she sighed, "…I'll have no choice but to send a professional assassination squad to put down the Dark Metal Head Goddess, once and for all."

All were dead silent, but Firefox immediately whimpered at the idea of one of her family members getting killed off. The fire scorching beneath her plating died to a low red glow and her optic dimmed in response.

Knockout tried to cheer the scared fox up but nothing worked.

Bumblebee glared at Elita, who he could tell felt threatened and appalled by the action, and marched away to prepare for departure.

As the monitor with the commander's image faded back to its original blue appearance with Cybertronian texts scrolling up and down it quickly, Knockout lead the unnerved fire breather to the awaiting transport Bumblebee had returned with.

Both the medic and the warrior finally made their way to the Central Command Center where their new team would be waiting for them. At the same time, Knockout continued to stroke the ears and mane of the downtrodden fox.

Out of the blue, however, Knockout received a message from his medical comrade who was stationed at the other side of the Iacon City. The Decepticon medic couldn't help but grin at the message for both he and his leader were needed there for a certain femme problem.

* * *

"Red Alert? Arcee? Chromia?" Ratchet growled as none of the girls responded. He knew they were hiding but he only truly needed the medic femme. Besides, he had alerted both Megatron and Knockout that they were here most likely to play around and give him a hard time before departing from Cybertron.

His Medbay consisted of the top three levels of the building with his personal library beneath it. To any patients that were delivered to him were usually transported by ship to one of the several docks that could be accessed from his station.

Ratchet warily maneuvered around a few berths while trying to listen for any movement. Suddenly, his audio receptors caught a faint giggle on the other side of the level. He grew a massive smirk and tip toed straight to the room where he thought the noise had come from.

Personally, he preferred Knockout's version of Hide and Go Seek since it worked more so than the original Earth-based one. And like the latter had said, "Games are only fun when you're winning!" Boy, Ratchet couldn't agree more.

The rustling of footsteps away from him made his stealthy walk into a loud sprint towards them. He slid to a halt as both Megatron and Knockout appeared from behind a corner.

"Ratchet, care to explain why you need us to 'catch' the troublesome femmes?" Megatron hissed while the other medic just examined his claws.

Ratchet sighed before explaining the whole ordeal. The warlord raised a brow at the Autobot but didn't comment.

"Look, I need to get Red Alert's key in order to access one of the main Energon vaults on my floor. I made the mistake of putting her in charge of them and now she has persuaded the other two to help keep it away from me. Could you please help me get it?"

Knockout smiled, "Sure, but I only have a joor left before I'm supposed to leave for Earth. Lord Megatron may come with us so let's hurry this up, shall we?"

All three then split up to find the mischievous femmes, assuming that they had also split up to keep the boys confused.

Megatron knew Arcee and Chromia were not only some of the smallest femmes but they were very similar in color. He hoped Arcee would be the one he caught.

Another laugh emitted from down the hall and he knew who it was. The smirk on his face was as enormous as his plan on capturing the blue motorcycle. He quickly stalked the area until he paused to see a feminine shadow slowly making its way towards him, most likely unknowingly.

The warlord hid in the nearest room and watched as Arcee passed him, slowly checking her surroundings for any of the mechs.

She didn't realize that she was backing into a room where the warmonger was until two servos lifted her off the ground and carried her back the way she came.

"Dammit Megatron!" She yelled as she struggled to get away from him.

He merely laughed as he went back to the main Medbay where the mechs had agreed to meet up when they caught one of the elusive femmes.

Arcee was immediately placed on the nearest berth and locked onto it by energy straps emerging from the platform. She stopped her struggling as time passed only to watch as Knockout brought in a chained Chromia.

Apparently, the femme got stuck in some loose chains while avoiding the medic and found herself being dragged back with her pedes and servos tied together.

As she was placed next to Arcee, she asked, "So, how did you get caught?"

Arcee shook her head, "Well, 'someone' happened to be in the same room as me and I couldn't break his hold."

Chromia couldn't help but laugh which she then received a deadly glare from her sister.

"Oh, you think that's funny, do you? At least, I didn't get trapped in something and made enough noise to draw attention to myself. Megatron found me fair and square."

The light blue car kept quiet for the remainder of the wait.

* * *

Ratchet made his way to the medicine room hoping the others had found their runaway mistresses.

Suddenly, he felt ropes tie around his legs and dangle him upside down from the ceiling. A form almost as big as him swooped down and smiled cleverly at him.

He frowned, "Should have known you'd conjure a trap. What's the big deal anyway?"

Red Alert squatted to meet him eye to eye, "There is something called 'playing hard to get', is there not?"

The old Autobot huffed while rolling his eyes. Why he let this femme anywhere near him was beyond him. He knew one day he'd regret it, and now she has an attraction towards him.

"You are going to be the death of me, I hope you know that."

She chuckled and cut him down. As he got up, she seductively brushed her hand on his cheek which made him freeze like he had just been hit by the Nemesis.

Ratchet did his best not to look at her as they walked back to the Medbay. The only problem was that she was in front of him, swinging her hips in a manner that distracted him very easily.

Finally, they reached the bay where both were shocked to see Arcee trying to make Megatron not sit on her chassis which all were sure would kill her if he continued. Knockout and Chromia had started a conversation but Ratchet didn't care what it was about.

"Megatron," Ratchet bellowed, "what in the Allspark are you doing?"

"Well, little Miss Motor Mouth here decided to say a few unruly things that were uncalled for. So in order to make her take it back, I figured if I sat on her, she would eventually apologize."

Ratchet stared at Arcee who had a look of pain across her face as Megatron applied more pressure. "Yeah, I don't think she'll be able to if you kill her in the process. Get off of her before I'm forced to get Optimus, and don't think I won't."

Megatron snarled before getting off of the air-deprived femme who grunted as the large mech moved.

"Alright, I'm…sorry," she replied, gasping to breathe.

The warlord smiled to himself before finally unlocking the bonds that held the two wheeler.

"Now that everyone has had their 'fun', I suggest you carry on with your scheduled mission. Now, get out of here! Red Alert and I need to discuss a few things," the medic said with the red and white femme trailing behind.

The others escorted one another out and met up with Bumblebee who had a concerned expression on his faceplates.

"What took you guys so long? We're about to take off so hurry up, won't you."

Knockout sighed, "This is going to be a long trip."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: The Danger Zone

* * *

The trip to Earth seemed to last forever. The Nemesis wasn't taking the pressure of its constant voyaging too well despite Earth was only a space bridge away.

Megatron stared at the humungous screen before him and once in a while typed a few things which popped up immediately after. He turned to see the rest of his new team discussing about the Metal Heads and what Tigressa may look like when they find her (since not many have actually seen her).

The Vehicons were, of course, the ever-so-present crew of the Nemesis but this time they were joined by Arcee, Bumblebee, Knockout, Rodimus, Blitzwing, and Slipstream, Starscream's sister whom Megatron hated more than the silver seeker himself.

He couldn't help but believe he was stuck with children except Arcee who has proven to be a "motherly" figure among the Autobots.

As the approached Earth, something in the far distance caught his optics. It wasn't a man-made satellite for it was straying from the orbital pattern practically all floating objects seemed to move in, and it was bigger than a majority of them. Before he could identify it as it came closer, the ship stirred slightly as it reentered the atmosphere it was already accustomed to.

The metal and the protective glass prevented him from keeping track of the figure as it disappeared from view. If that was what he thought it was, he and Tigressa would be having a long, colorful conversation.

Blitzwing observed the cities and countryside they moved over. They didn't have anything like this on Cybertron, and despite its organic nature, he had to admit it was beautiful. A crash upon the window startled him out of his daydream. He looked up to see a large white and grey bird plastered on the glass like a bug getting hit on a highway. A red substance began to slowly slip down which made the jet think twice about the "beauty" of organic life.

"Hit a bird, huh?" Rodimus asked as the supposedly dead creature started to slide down the surface with a trail of blood following behind. The Prime had a disgusted look upon his face plates as the organic finally fell off.

"Well, from what Bee has told me, birds aren't the worst things that can appear on our windshields," the red-orange and yellow mech choked out, still locked onto where the bird once was.

Blitzwing's blue face immediately switched to one of red with a yellow visor, "Yeah, but if I get any on my cockpit, Optimus is going to here from me personally! I'll put my message straight through his processor alright!"

Once again, his face switched to a black face with red sharp dentas and blood red eyes. It instantly made Rodimus jump back a few feet.

"Of course, if that does happen, I may keep the deceased birdies and stuff them into the Autobot leader's chassis when he's in recharge! That'll teach the goody two-shoes Prime not to mess with me!" The crazy persona let out a hoarse, cruel cackle as the younger Prime kept his distance from the triple-changer.

When the Nemesis finally grounded itself in Jasper, Nevada, Bumblebee stood gleefully as Raf ran towards him. Behind him was Clara, a girl who had befriended the warrior and became Raf's wife after a few years of dating. She smiled at the boys' reunion and hugged Arcee whom she grew to like over the years as well.

"It's nice to see you again, Bee. I was wondering when you would return," Raf said as he was placed on the warrior's shoulder.

"Trust me, I was thinking the same thing, although we're actually here to talk to some of the Metal Heads that were placed to protect you. Their leader made an unauthorized strike against Grimlock and we need to find out why."

Raf thought for a minute. During this time, the yellow and black mech couldn't help but think back to when Raf was a small teenager who happened to be a great hacker and accidently saw him and Arcee battling Vehicons under the bridge. Now, Rafael was a grown man with a deeper voice, a wife, and a job at one of the biggest technology companies in the world which he does at his home computer system.

Bumblebee had no doubts that Miko and Jack were doing great in their professional jobs. Miko had taken the job as the manager for the top metal band in the East while Jack opened a popular mechanic shop in Los Angeles that both cars and disguised Cybertronians go when they need repairs and no medic is available.

Thankfully, Knockout and Ratchet taught him the Cybertronian body and how to repair every problem known so far. He now has a hidden supply of ready Energon in case one of his alien customers happens to have lost a good amount from a wound or a missing limb. He even has a couple dozen personal mines the government monitors under his command. Several Vehicons help him remove their crystals when the time is needed.

"What if something's wrong with Tigressa? What if she is incapable of commanding them and they don't know what to do without a leader?"

Bumblebee stared at him confused, "Those are some serious 'what if's, and no, I highly doubt that. If there was something wrong then why wouldn't she contact us? She knows we can help her!"

That got Raf thinking harder, "Well, like you said, if there is a problem between Tigressa and the Cybertronians, then maybe a Metal Head is who we need to talk to. But, if a Metal Head attacked Grimlock out of sheer will, then maybe it's not the best idea for you to confront one. They may have some sort of grudge against you right now or something you did."

"What we did? What did we do!? We left them alone for…what…fifteen years now and they're bitching about us doing something wrong?"

Raf smiled, "Perhaps we should stick to the main problem on Tigressa. Maybe, she's…"

Bumblebee gestured to him to continue but he just blankly stared at the ground, "'What if she's…come on, you have to finish the suggestion, buddy. Don't leave me hanging in the dust now."

"What if she's in trouble!? What if somebody has taken over the army and she was killed or worse, under that person's control?" Raf's expression didn't change from pure fear.

Bumblebee was speechless. If someone was using the Metal Heads for their own ideals and Tigressa isn't in charge anymore, they were in big trouble.

"Oh no. M-Megatron! Rodimus!"

* * *

The cavern was dead silent with the exception of water dripping from the ceiling. Nothing stirred and the ever-so-present gold and fossils of the victims from the past were gone. There was even a discolored spot on the cavern floor where Tigressa's throne once stood.

Firefox roared in the hope that someone would answer. Nothing responded.

This threw the techno-organic into a panic. Never before had she felt so lost and lonely with no comfort from her brothers and sisters whom have apparently disappeared as well.

"Sweetspark? Sweetie?" Knockout called as he warily avoided the falling water.

He climbed over a few piles of destroyed rock before he finally found the depressed fox. He sat down next to her, despite the rocks being all slimy, and set her on his lap like a dog.

"Honey, I promise we'll find them," Knockout reassured, "but, I cannot guarantee they won't be harm as we try to locate them."

Firefox let out another whimper in response.

The medic watched as tears fell from her optics which made him feel broken-hearted. It almost made him burst into tears as well. Never had he seen her this way before and it actually hurt him.

* * *

The Metal Heads whispered to one another as they watched from afar through the skylights on the ceilings of the cavern. One among them grew unsettled by their words; he was now the only one without a corrupted red skull gem.

He motioned to a few of them and said something in what most would identify as clicking mixed with unintelligible words. As the group left on his command, he stared down at the weeping fox and the medic, feeling an emotion he couldn't describe.

He turned away and clasped his claws over his snout. 'Poor child, I will try to make things right again. Hopefully, you don't find us and feel the true pain of betrayal,' he murmured in his native tongue.

Luckily, the others didn't hear him nor acknowledge he actually said something. They were mindless shells now, deprived of their usual personas and separated from their true leader. He, however, was far from loyal to the new ruler. His heart only belonged to one whom he did not know where she was.

He finally signaled the others to retreat back to the new base. He then followed them despite his urge to warn the Cybertronians and his love's younger sister.

* * *

"Ma'am, Bumblebee has just informed us that the situation has just become complicated," Blurr concluded.

Elita put her servo on her face and scowled, "How is that possible!?"

"Um…," Blurr stuttered, "W-well apparently, Bumblebee's human friend has come to the conclusion that Tigressa isn't the one behind the attack. He suggests that someone else has taken command of the army and has her detained somewhere she can't call for any assistance or any loyal Metal Heads."

"Do you know what this means, Agent Blurr?"

The speedy mech shook his head and swiftly tapped his fingers together patiently.

"It means," the Commander started, "that if we can't catch the person responsible for this, we'll have to resort to unnecessary war. And if we do that, we'll have a split Cybertron all over again because some citizens will believe Tigressa is defending her home and will join her fight for 'independence', others will believe she's trying to kill their species all over again like before when she was the hunter and we were her prey!"

Blurr swallowed loudly as Elita stepped down from her platform with her seat and her desk. She stalked towards him as he began to back away.

"I do not want this world to fall again and if I have to make sure the new leader as well as the old stays quiet about their possible new "ideals" then I will see to it, both the puppet and the puppeteer are no longer a threat. I already have a new leader picked out for the Metal Heads in case an 'accident' was to happen as Bumblebee tries to save poor, old Tigressa."

"What?" Blurr whispered in shock.

Elita giggled, "Oh, you didn't think I was actually going to let Tigressa off scar free now, did you? You see, Agent Blurr, Tigressa is powerful enough to where if she were to find any undesirable secrets of ours, she would immediately disband the treaty and attack us after she regained control of her army.

"If we lose that treaty with the Metal Heads, then we'll be vulnerable and our forces will once again be divided but this time between trusting her and agreeing with us. In order to make sure that doesn't happen, I'm afraid removing Tigressa from power will be the only suitable choice. Of course, I'll have to persuade Optimus to believe she left the army behind and her whereabouts are unknown."

Blurr's optics blinked rapidly in disbelief, "You can't just destroy Tigressa! Without her guidance, the Metal Heads won't know what to do under a new leader, especially one who is Cybertronian, nor will they accept the fact that Tigressa 'abandoned' them! And you forgot about Captain Silos who is extremely loyal to her; he wouldn't believe it even if it was true and the evidence was staring him in the face!"

"That's a problem I shall also deal with. We don't need Tigressa anymore nor do we need anybody loyal to her. There is no more room for 'goddesses' anymore, only those who are worthy enough to carry the weight of power on their shoulder armor…," Elita smirked as she picked up a medallion with the fabled Dracon symbol on it.

Blurr cringed as she crushed it in her palm, "…and those willing to do anything to get it!"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Drastic Measures

* * *

Slipstream and Arcee snaked through the halls of the cavern Tigressa once occupied and scouted for any clue as to where the Metal Heads had gone.

The jet femme didn't trust her surroundings so she had her guns operational. Arcee, however, had a feeling the Metal Heads didn't care about attacking them and were more concerned about their new leader.

A low growl alerted them, and they were surprised to see a familiar set of orange eyes; it was Entity!

Arcee smiled, "Hey, Big Guy, you almost scared us. You've already freaked your twin out, so why are…you…" Her voice trailed off as the orange and black dragon moved into the light.

His pupils were dilated which only occurred when his species were in predator mode, a mode that made their instincts take over which meant if they saw you and they were hungry, guess who they would go after like wild rampaging animals. But unlike in normal predator mode, his eyes had an unusual white outline around his black pupil that made Arcee realize the dark truth; he was being controlled against his will and his own instincts.

Both femmes grew unsettled and backed away from the disturbed monster before them. Entity showed no sign of his usual kind personality, instead he showed off an animalistic thirst for anything living. His teeth were bared towards them and both his wings and claws were ready to tear apart his prey.

Knowing they couldn't take on the former heartfelt beast without backup, both Arcee and Slipstream darted back the way they had come but tried to fool the hunter in the process by navigating around rock structures embedded in the cavern's skeleton.

Entity crashed through each one with determination locked into his primeval state of mind. He roared at them in frustration as Arcee narrowly avoided being caught in his jaws.

"Arcee to Megatron, we've found one of the brothers and the new leader did something to him. Now he's trying to kill us like he doesn't recognize us and we're only bipedal meals. We could really use your help right about no-OW!"

The two-wheeler felt claws rip across her shoulder and back before even comprehending the fact that she had been flung into one of the cavern's natural compositions. She tried to get up but found Energon leaking from the wounds which she was sure was luring him away from Slipstream who was trying to fend the dragon off of her scent.

Slipstream finally bellowed a comment as she raised her missiles to his screeching open mouth, "Don't make me do this, Entity!"

The monster seemed to widen his eyes which made them convert back to normal for a second like he understood and wanted to restrain against his actions, but his optics soon changed back again into the deluded state that they had met him in.

Entity hissed before snapping his dentas into her forearm and tossing her through the cavern wall. He returned his hoodwinked optics on the motorcycle who was struggling to get as far away as possible. He snarled once more at his escaping prey and charged on all fours.

Arcee peered behind her in fear as the dragon closed in. She closed her eyes while she leaned against the nearest rock creation. She was losing quarts of Energon by the minute; she was too weak to fight now but she wasn't one to truly run like a coward.

Suddenly as the dragon reached her, a fist slammed down on the monster's head which then revealed a visible crack spreading throughout his facial armor. Entity's entire frame halted immediately from the impact and his arms, legs, and tail flew over his unconscious processor. From everywhere, the sound of armor rupturing echoed throughout the cavern to where Arcee was sure the rest of their team had heard.

Megatron posed in that position until the dragon's body finally boomeranged back to the cold, murky ground. No one could have awoken from such a hit but there was also the possibility the majority who were hit by something like that died from the results.

The warlord popped his knuckles before cracking his own back and stretching to loosen his tense armor plating the pose sort of inflicted upon him. As he was doing that, Bumblebee went to the injured Arcee who was still in shock about what she had witnessed.

"Whoa, what the hell happened?" Rodimus said behind him.

Bumblebee didn't reply as he tended her wounds the best he could. He immediately backed off to let Megatron carry Arcee when he heard a growl rumble in the warmonger's throat. He knew Megatron felt a hint of jealousy towards anybody who stayed with his "friend" for too long or when she was hurt and someone else tried to woo her by helping her instantly.

However, Megatron was well aware of his attraction to Flare-Up and only considered Arcee as his sister/friend. Still, the warlord proved protective towards her no matter if the others were Autobots or Decepticons.

Rodimus stared at the cataleptic dragon and couldn't help but gulp at the large crack that spanned over the latter's face plates. If pain was a spreadable virus, he would've already felt the outcome of Megatron's punch, and he doubted he would be able to stand it without wanting to commit suicide.

Arcee clung to his chest like a baby koala does to its mother, her protector, as the warmonger carried her in his arms carefully. Megatron nuzzled his face against hers once every two minutes for a response to make sure she was doing alright. Right before he stopped Entity, he had called the Nemesis over and ordered Knockout to stand by for a new patient whom the medic assumed was Arcee since his liege's voice was in an aggressive, possessive tone.

When they finally reached the Medbay on his ship, Arcee was hooked to Energon I.V.s as well as monitors for the time being until the medical staff said different, and Megatron stayed by her side through the entire set up.

Knockout apparently couldn't get him to leave because he was attached to her like a loyal dog, almost like how Firefox still continues to be to Entity.

While Megatron and Arcee were situated in the Medbay, Bumblebee, Rodimus, and Blitzwing were given the duty of moving the half-dead dragon onto the Nemesis and chaining him down until further notice.

"So, could someone please explain to me how the FUCK we're supposed to get a mentally unstable, titan-like dragon onto that ship!?" Blitzwing (Hothead) exclaimed as steam fumed from his vents.

None of the Vehicons responded nor did his own teammates who didn't really want to deal with his fiery persona at the moment.

Rodimus just sat on Entity's tail for the time being until he felt it shift its position. Before he could get off, he found himself peering into the optics of the black and orange dragon who had a confused look across his ruptured face.

"Uh…why are you all staring at me like that, and why does everything hurt so…" His sentence was cut off as the angry persona of Blitzwing knocked him back into unconsciousness by swinging the nearest rock at his nearly destroyed helm. Entity's neck was twisted weirdly but he was still breathing just fine surprisingly.

When the rock met its target with Blitzwing's mighty physical strength pushing it, everyone winced as his victim went down. Some even made small noises like "Oooooo!" and "Oh Primus!" Others just turned away and puked at the sight of Entity's unnatural pose which a lot believed had to have killed him. At least, that was what they though until someone checked without getting killed by the psychotic jet-tank.

Bumblebee gave the triple changer a puzzled look, "Wha…!? Wh-wh-what was that for!? He already most likely gained enough brain damage as it is! Plus, he was conscious and actually spoke instead of just growling and attacking us!"

Blitzwing changed once again from Hothead to Psycho whose red teeth were forced into an ungodly, evil grin while his black, course tongue slithered out seductively and his blood red white-slit eyes observed the receiver of his angry persona's rage.

The insane jet-tank let out a cackle at the broken body but slowed down as his optics sighted Bumblebee. Something inside him snapped which made his normal persona yell "NO!" in the back of his head, and he found himself striking the muscle car across the chest armor.

Bumblebee staggered back but couldn't contain a groan as he noticed four claw marks deep within his protoform. Energon seeped through the gashes in the same way Arcee's wounds did. His eyes widened as a thought hit him.

"That's not the true Blitzwing! He's being controlled by the new leader just like Entity!"

Everyone backed away from the triple changer and prepared their weapons as the crazy persona of Blitzwing kept his optics trained on both the warrior and the Prime. He moved forward slightly almost like a possessed ragdoll that was trying to walk like an actual person, but he stumbled down on one knee and put a hand to his demented face.

"Blitzwing, if you can't regain power over yourself, I'll have no choice but to put you into stasis lock! Blitzwing!" Bumblebee cried as the jet-tank still attempted to go after him.

He seemed to be fighting with himself every time he progressed towards them. Finally, he switched his face to Icy who immediately exclaimed, "Do it! Put me in stasis lo…AHHHH!"

To Bumblebee's horror, Crazy recaptured the shared body and clamped his teeth on the nearest Vehicon who instantly lost his head as Blitzwing tore it off the car's now-lifeless frame.

Before the triple changer could do anymore damage, both Bumblebee and Rodimus grabbed his pede and tripped him. He fell onto the deceased Vehicon's chassis as the warrior did more damage to him.

The muscle car pounded as much dents and fractures into Blitzwing's protoform as he could. The more Energon that leaked out was the hopeful indication that he was soon going to go into stasis lock due to too much blood being lost and the body's natural answer to preserving the remaining fluid.

After a while, the jet-tank's own chassis was horribly disfigured, and he found his vision blocked by the flashing sign: 'Warning: Stasis Lock Inevitable!'

His optics widened for once in fear for the new leader apparently didn't want to go offline and lose his new puppet. As soon as his vision began to fade, Crazy responded in the same way Icy did when he charged. "NOOoooo…."

His voice became distorted as the stasis lock took effect. His red teeth locked together as his optics dimmed into blackness.

Bumblebee panted from exhaustion. This was too much to deal with in one day, or more specifically, three hours.

"Alright, who wants to take Blitzwing up to Knockout? Anybody? Nobody?" He cleared his throat to get the attention of some who weren't acknowledging him, "If nobody's going to take him then the ones who DIDN'T volunteer will carry Entity up to the Nemesis."

He contained a chuckle as the others' body movements froze into place. Before he could say anything, multiple Vehicons battled each other to hoist Blitzwing up and a few kept replacing others by pulling them away from their position and taking over the thrown one's spot under the jet-tank.

It made Rodimus crack up as he followed behind while the Vehicons left from the battle that weren't successful in obtaining a spot struggled to drag the giant dragon towards the awaiting transport.

* * *

Slipstream didn't say much to the medic as he disposed of Energon-stained bandages, but she had to give the sports car props for saving Arcee from bleeding internally in less than twenty minutes and doing it perfectly. Most medics usually made the blood stop leaking in forty minutes or more which even ended up sloppy.

As for Blitzwing and Entity, both were quickly placed in special stasis pods hooked to processor monitors for any unusual activity within their minds. That didn't take long either.

Megatron apparently fell asleep by Arcee's side so both didn't bother disturbing him despite Slipstream's urge to scare him. But she remembered Arcee could go into shock if awoken while her wounds were recuperating.

Knockout smiled as they left the two alone and shut the Medbay door. "Don't you think it is nice our Lord finally found someone despite she was a major enemy the majority of the time any of us really knew her?"

The jet shrugged, "Sure, at least she is willing to take care of him, and she has proven to be quite the distraction to him when we do something wrong. She has saved our afts many times and thankfully, he forgets what we did afterwards. It's either her or he's getting old or both."

"Hm…I'm betting it's the third. By the way, have you spoken to ThunderCracker lately?"

"No, why?"

Knockout's grin vanished, "He's missed you since you left him on Panari. Every time I mention something you happen to like or a place you've gone with him before, he instantly talks about you like you're the only Cybertronian in the Universe. It really bums me out to the point where conversing with him is like getting the Cybonic Plague."

"Let me guess, you want me to go back to him to put those relentless thoughts to rest, correct?" She sighed as she stopped walking.

"Well that wasn't what I would've done exactly, if I was you, but it could work," Knockout replied.

Slipstream shook her head before continuing down the hall. "I'll see what I can do."

* * *

Optimus paced as Bumblebee told him the story about Entity and Blitzwing's destructive behavior.

"I believe it would be best to transport both of them here for now until we can find the probable cause of their condition as well as a possible location of where the new leader may be," Optimus said immediately after.

The warrior raised a brow, "I'm more concerned about how Entity's still alive right now. If you were to have seen the smack down Megatron gave him, you'd be surprised too, Optimus."

The Prime smirked, "Heh, I've seen enough in my lifetime where I'm hardly surprised anymore. Besides, I think the appropriate term would be 'confused'."

"Whatever you say, 'Dad'," Bumblebee grinned.

The comm. ended as an Eradicon (flying Vehicon) came in with a data pad in his right servo.

"Sir, we're picking up an unnatural energy source on one of Cybertron's moons. For some reason, the scouts we've sent haven't reported back. The Council wants you to check it out if you have nothing else to do in your schedule."

Optimus thought for a second, "Very well, but I don't trust whatever may be up there so I require a squadron to go with me."

The Eradicon bowed, "It will be done, my liege."

As the air-based trooper left, Optimus rolled his eyes. He hated being referred to as a liege, lord, or a ruling name of any sort. He was only a Prime and that's how he wanted it to stay.

He turned his attention to the smallest moon that orbited Cybertron. He formed a frown upon his face when something seemed to appear out of the moon itself.

He squinted to see what it was when suddenly the figure grew massive fast. His optics widened as the unknown form crashed through the window and all he saw were two purple lights on a shadow staring down at him. The purple and black organism growled before it struck him, forcing him to be consumed by darkness.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Into Darkness

* * *

"6 joors have passed since Optimus' disappearance and no one apparently saw anything suspicious in the skies before the window shattered. After the sound of glass breaking, the intruder was gone even though a lot of optics were trained on the window, from one angle to another," Barricade announced.

Bumblebee cupped his chin, "So after he went in, he just automatically transported out of there with Optimus? Why didn't he just pop in like that and then use the same method to go out?"

Prowl kept his mouth shut while Barricade finished reading all of the Cybertronians' reports his fellow guardsmen had collected on the kidnapping.

"Well," the police car started, "honestly, I can't truly answer that. But whatever he wanted with Optimus still remains a mystery that we can't solve without some clues pointing towards a suspect or eve a place. We can only do so much."

Rodimus studied the broken window before stating a comment, "Hey, do you guys see how the shape of the glass looks similar to a human medical cross?"

Bumblebee turned his attention to Rodimus while both police cars just stared at the glass.

"Look, the vertical break is the body right? So the horizontal break must be the wings. And if you look at the size of the actual outline…"

"…It resembles a giant animal!" The warrior finished. "Or even a dragon! It may be one of Tigressa's brothers! Since Entity was under the new leader's control, the others must be too!"

Prowl just continued to observe the ruined view, "Yeah but, if this 'New Leader' has a group of flying super soldiers at his disposal, don't you think everyone who has a high command could be in peril?"

"No," Bumblebee concluded, "I think whoever has the Metal Heads under his heels must need the most powerful Cybertronian for something important, maybe even for revenge."

* * *

Optimus stirred slightly from his slumber and tried to move but found that his arms and legs were bound separate on a wall by sticky webbing, neither like Airachnid's nor Blackarachnia's. He noticed strange rattling yellow orbs on stalks were beside him and attached to the oozing walls. They were eggs.

He instantly peered down to his right to see a pool of a swirling dark purple, blue, and black substance in which the stalks resided. Above him, tubes of four different colored matters flowed throughout the room into a tunnel where something glowing was.

A screech startled him from his observances, and before him was a Metal Head he didn't recognize. It appeared similar to Slag and his mate, Skewer; it had very little armor and wasn't showing its usual bright yellow skull gems. They were instead a dull, venomous red as well as the eyes.

'That's not right,' he thought to himself. Wherever he was, it didn't contain what he was familiar with.

As soon as the Triceratops-like Metal Head moved on, one of the eggs converted from its normal yellow to the ugly red coloring and five little Metal babies broke out of the crude shell. All five seemed to resemble the T-Rex-like Gyros who attacked Grimlock earlier this year, minus the obvious skull gem change.

The egg broke off from its stalk and landed into the pulsing dark liquid where all five Metal Heads instantly drank from. Immediately, the small T-Rexes' bodies pumped the dark ingredient through their system and to Optimus' amazement, they began to grow.

They squealed innocently as armor and spikes grew on their aging chassis. Some gripped the ground while their back and neck spikes emerged from their skeleton; the others groaned in pain as their limbs and tails enlarged tenfold from their original height and mass. As their bodies expanded, their weak voices intensified to deep roars with several rows of teeth lining their throats.

Optimus had never before witnessed a Metal Head being born nor their growth into a mature adult monster. Who knew cute little animals like that could form into predatory, blood lusting behemoths within seconds of their birth.

Now, five giant abominable Gyros stood before him, testing their neck spikes by rotating them counter-clockwise like some birds do when they're exaggerating their crops to impress the females of their species.

The Prime saw the Triceratops-like Metal Head had returned, but the view rapidly changed to one of horror. The Gyros saw their new prey and ganged up against the smaller creature. Surprisingly, every strike they performed revealed the other type of Metal Head had a thick layer of metal beneath its skin, but the Gyros finally made it past the under armor and snapped the four horned animal's neck. It was now a meal.

As he grew sickened by the sight of the Gyros feeding on the deceased titan Triceratops, he heard a voice he didn't recognize and the male voice was talking to a female who sounded monotone almost as if she was one of those old automatic machines humans once built in the early 2000's. She seemed dull responding but she talked to him nonetheless.

Optimus continued to eavesdrop until a dark shadow was cast upon him again. He peered up to see the same purple eyes he saw before he blacked out on Cybertron. He looked closely and finally realized who it was before he felt the impact of the shadow's fist which made him unconscious once again, "Ghost!"

* * *

Megatron couldn't believe what had happened to Optimus. He was so shocked that Arcee had to physically shake him back to reality.

His crew seemed astonished too. Starscream and Soundwave had never heard of something like that nor had the even seen it happen before. Breakdown, Dreadwing, and Knockout conversed with each other about how it was even possible for something to disappear like that with a large bot like Optimus and not get spotted.

It was a mystery until Rodimus informed them of their recent discovery which came as even more of a wakeup call. The crew was rambling amongst each other now, and it seemed like a war between rumors had begun.

Megatron swiftly walked out of the Central Command room and headed for the top deck where Arcee was. He saw her dangling her pedes over the edge as naively as possible when he approached her. The warlord sat beside her and did the same thing while looking up at the night sky with two of Cybertron's moons in view.

"Are you alright, my dear?" Megatron cooed.

Arcee hesitated before answering, "If you count 'worried' as another term for 'alright' then sure."

The warmonger growled softly and pulled the two-wheeler to his lap. She didn't resist his warm embrace but still was in a sad mood for her missing leader.

She felt his arms wrap around her waist with her back pressed against his chest. She could hear his spark pulsing in the nightly silence among them. It reminded her of her creator's whose spark was always heard; she always cuddled against her mother's chest, or at least until she grew old enough to leave her family and join the fight for Cybertron.

Megatron rested his chin on her shoulder as both gazed down at Tyger Pax which was covered in both moving and frozen lights. New York resembled it way too much.

Arcee rubbed against his cheek for reassurance, which made him purr, as they stayed under the starry sky, hoping Optimus was still living.

* * *

The next morning, Bumblebee set up a new team to go with him to Moon Base 1 where the unusual energy signature originated and where Optimus may be.

Rodimus decided to continue his adventure with the yellow warrior while the Jet Twins (Jetfire and Jetstorm), Wasp, Smokescreen, and Blurr were situated into the new group. Apparently, Wasp and Smokescreen had a history together; let's just say they weren't the best of friends.

Ultra Magnus was nice enough to loan them a large ship named the Ethiopia which was used during the war as an Autobot spy vessel with a former Decepticon crew piloting it. It was historic but it had seen better days and resting in a warehouse wasn't helping.

Wasp and Smokescreen stared daggers at each other as both climbed aboard the Ethiopia. Bumblebee rolled his eyes but studied Blurr who was acting suspicious. He never had an expression like that before nor did he ever move so slowly. Usually, he was the happiest, hyper speedster everyone grew to love, but now, he seemed downtrodden, almost nervous and scared.

"Blurr?" Bumblebee called as the blue car flinched at his name, "Is something wrong? You don't seem like yourself today."

Blurr stuttered quickly, "I-I'm fine! Just leave me alone!"

The warrior was taken aback by the blue car's words. He'd never met this version of Blurr nor did he really like it.

As the ship left Cybertron without any of its passengers killing each other, Wasp looked out the window towards the shrinking planet. In all honesty, he had never been on this type of mission before, and he couldn't shake the feeling that something was going to go terribly wrong. But that could only be a misconception inside his mind, right?

The green muscle car gripped the nearest corner out of sheer terror. What if he was right? But what if he was wrong and he lead the group into a false defensive mode? They would hate him for making them so paranoid about the Moon Base.

He tried to shake the thought from his mind when suddenly, the ship jolted like it had hit something or vice versa. Wasp instantly went to the main control room where the monitors were filled with warning signs of different malfunctions.

"Great, we get a piece of shit vessel from a bot who finally acted nice for once but was always an asshole around the clock every other time. Thanks a lot, Commander," Smokescreen commented.

"'Screen, now's not the time to make snide remarks about someone who isn't here!" Jetstorm responded as he clung to his station's console.

The Ethiopia drifted towards Moon Base 1 weightlessly and was soon being dragged inside the atmosphere by the satellite's gravitational pull.

As ground floor sped into view, everybody braced themselves for a rough landing. The ship screeched as it slid across the metal plates layering the surface of the moon. Luckily, it didn't lose any vital parts or any Cybertronians for that matter. It finally settled between two bent shards of metal that formed walls next to the sides of the ship.

Bumblebee emerged from the resting vessel while rubbing his throbbing helm. He watched as the Jet Twins as well as Wasp, Blurr, and Smokescreen exited through a few rips in the hull. All seemed alright enough to carry on.

"Well," Jetfire began, "communications are down for the time being. I've already started to reboot system but it will take about two joors for it to actually take effect on the computers."

The warrior sighed as his brother (Wasp is Bumblebee's sibling) moaned at the news.

Wasp scowled at himself for not warning the crew ahead of time. His suspicions were right, but he chose to ignore them for one second and something like this happens?

Rodimus didn't come out of the wreckage for some time, but he was fine despite his disappearance. This made Bumblebee go into a panic attack about him a few minutes after the others confirmed their conditions and he was not visible.

The Prime cracked his back loudly which made Blurr even more paranoid to Bumblebee's surprise. There was something wrong, and he was going to find out before this trip ends or else.

All seven mechs abandoned their immobile vessel with the tracker that had thankfully isolated the energy signature and imprinted its location in its memory banks before the crash. The digital marker seemed to loom over the coordinates of one of the old Base watch towers that were built during the war to watch over a specific area of the moon for Decepticons or any unauthorized/unusual activity.

The Sentries, as they were called, surpassed Darkmount's height by a few feet but weren't designed to be like a military fortress. Instead, they held special op teams, vehicles, and weapons used only for emergencies as well as a few holding cells for any intruders caught. The intruders were usually moved to a prison on Cybertron the following day.

They eventually were deserted when Cybertron fell dark. Despite its now-booming population growth, the Moon Base still is uninhibited although the new Council has been conversing about what its new use should be.

The Sentry before them had four smaller turrets surrounding it, but one was missing its apex while another parallel to it was broken in the middle and its upper half was stuck between the Sentry and its origin forming a useless bridge. The other two had scars and holes but both still stood perfectly.

Rodimus had to lean back to even peek towards the summit of the tower which was hidden by a circular wall that prevented any ground based missiles and weapons from striking the room below the peak which held items from valuables to custom explosives made from a wide variety of ingredients, materials, and even dead bodies from previously killed soldiers.

If the chamber was hit, the building's crown would have most likely been separated from its base and taken anybody up there with it or its deck would've crumbled inward and crushed anybody inside as it fell to the bottom floor. Either way, the barbican would've been ruins within mere seconds.

Bumblebee noticed the energy signature would once in a while disappear almost like something was attempting to block it or it was in a place where its signal wasn't very strong due to the elements around it. He realized in order to cover the entire tower, they would have to be in groups of two with one group of three.

If memory served right, he learned about Sentries in the Cybertron equivalent to School which would've been translated to only seven grades, and apparently, some Sentries even had a few underground stories but no one truly knew what it was used for except the bots who actually worked there. They never revealed any of the towers' secrets other than there actually being an underground labyrinth and what they stored in the top chamber.

"Alright," Bumblebee began as he halted his team, "Rodimus, you're with me. Jet Twins, you obviously know who you're paired with. And Smokescreen, don't kill Wasp…or Blurr, even though I know you have no quarrel with him."

Smokescreen growled at the green muscle car who eyed the former sternly. Blurr, however, just kept his distance from both, not wanting to be caught in another war between Cybertronians and having to choose sides.

The Jet Twins high fived each other before transforming into their alt. modes which were true to their names. Bumblebee was well aware they wanted to start their mission on the crown of the enormous barbican.

Rodimus continued onward inside the watch tower with the warrior in tow. He seemed drawn to the lower half of the sentinel more so than the sky-high half. He went into a room across the hall and messed with a few items while the yellow mech went into a different area.

Bumblebee quickly scanned the nearest room for any life forms or items that were most likely coated in rust from their time spent in the rotting castle-like citadel. His sensor beeped for a second but whatever it was seemed to have moved on or his system hiccupped.

Instead, a hole in the corner of a misshapen wall caught his optic, and curiosity got the better of him. The hole wasn't big enough for a small bot, but it was spacious enough for a human to go through. He peered inside and saw nothing out of the ordinary.

Suddenly, grey jaws filled his view and snapped at the hole with a snarl sounding at the same time, forcing Bumblebee to scream and jump back in fear. He landed on his aft and pushed himself to the wall behind him.

Whatever it was seemed to have left as soon as he fell backwards. He had only caught a glimpse of what it was; to his horror, it almost looked like it had a grey face like his species had. That couldn't be right.

"Bee? Bee!? Oh, dude, what happened? I heard you yell and then a thud followed. Are you okay?" Rodimus asked as he helped the warrior up.

"I just thought I saw…nah, I must've hit my head and the image of whatever that thing was became scrambled," Bumblebee said, confused by his own words.

"Saw what? What did it "appear" to be?"

Bumblebee hesitated to respond, "It just seemed like that thing was Cybertronian for a second. I mean it sounded like a Metal Head but when its jaws tried to bite me, before I moved back, I thought I saw around its mouth silver protoform face plating. Plus its façade was flat like ours, not edgy and outward like a Metal Head snout would be."

Rodimus raised a brow, "I think you've been spending too much time on Earth and that planet's organic features have really screwed with your processor."

"What, you don't believe me?"

"I'm not saying that, I'm just a little concerned about your touch on reality and how you haven't seen many Cybertronian faces in one place for thousands and thousands of years. You've gotten used to Earth's humans that you've slowly forgot the image of a Cybertronian and now seeing them is triggering some sort of program where you process Cybertronians as the unknown, dangerous alien species."

Bumblebee stared at him, lost in the wording of what his fellow teammate was trying to suggest. "I didn't process a majority what you just said but about the part I did, I highly doubt I'm reading my fellow Cybertronians as a threat. Personally, I think you might need some serious help plus you weren't on Cybertron for that many years too. You could've picked up on the same thing, don't you think?"

Rodimus' expression froze to one of confusion before he finally replied, "Oh yeah, I'm sorry. Forget what I said. Never mind, my bad."

Both mechs didn't keep eye contact for more than one second. The awkward silence didn't help either.

Bumblebee hoped the others weren't experiencing anything as crazy as this.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Ghosts of the Sentry

* * *

Blurr steadily stepped around a fallen pillar that once connected to the inner turret's lower level. Its rotting metal seemed to linger on the verse of collapsing despite its sturdy appearance.

He flinched immediately as a loud bang rose up from behind him. He peered towards the cause, only to frown upon the two idiot rivals who weren't happy with each other's company. He saw the item they had knocked over was a loose crate that also happened to rub up against a pole violently.

Smokescreen nudged Wasp away with a shoulder bump but the latter responded with a harder hit in the same way. As each took turns bumping the other aggressively which grew more powerful with each hit, Blurr just sighed and continued as far as he could before he eventually found a dead end.

Out of curiosity, he observed the ceiling which had a hole in it as well as the following seven stories above him. It seemed to resemble what they remembered about the top chamber on the main Sentry and how when it was hit, it was prone to caving it and taking the floors below it down as well. There was only one problem with that theory in this corner turret.

Apparently, if the crown of it did topple, there would have been no roof and a lot more rubble would have covered the ground level and made it impossible for them to even reach this room.

Quickly after his observances, a yell and a crash sounded with a frantic voice calling Smokescreen's name.

"What are you two…?" Blurr started but his words disappeared as he saw Wasp staring shocked at an open wall.

It wasn't exposed before he passed it and the sports car wasn't in sight. He instantly ran to the motionless green mech and trailed his partner's sight to another hole in the wall across from the one recently destroyed.

"W-what happened!?" The blue speedster demanded, "Wasp, what happened!?"

"I-I saw the metal tear apart and a dark shadow with a skull gem on its chest snatched S-Smokescreen and fled into the darkness!"

"Scrap! We need to call for help!" Blurr urged while Wasp continued to gawk at the pitch black entrance.

The blue car tried to activate his comm. link, but only static was present. He turned back to the hole, and for once in his life, he made a life-risking choice: he went inside with his twin blasters online.

Normally, he never put his life on the line, especially when it came to unknown creature capable of killing Cybertronians. Battling in a war was one thing, chasing after a most likely dead comrade and his monstrous kidnapper was what the humans would call a "whole different ball game".

He immediately galvanized his headlights as well as his taillights on his hip plating as he stalked the gloomy, rusted passage way.

Almost instantly, ghostly whispers sounded throughout the halls as he moved towards where he presumed was Smokescreen's location.

"Smokescreen!" Blurr yelled but only heard the whispers grow stronger as he continued on.

Suddenly, jaws latched onto his right gun and swung the sports car into the weak walls.

Blurr tried to get up but felt a clawed foot dig into his back plating. He couldn't hide a whimper of pain but had enough space to turn his head to the side where he caught the yellow slit-pupil creature's optics.

He took the time to scan quickly over the monsters features which made his eyes widen. The skull gem was a dead giveaway but to his surprise, the abomination looked just like…a Cybertronian! Before him lurked something that appeared to be a mixed species of a Metal Head and Transformer, something unnatural even.

The foaming Cybertronian Head lowered itself to sniff the blue car's head. While it explored, Blurr felt drool run off the side of his helm in both directions; he watched as it trailed down his cheek and chin until finally hitting the ground. Disgusting.

The Metal Head's hot breath made Blurr wince until it rose back to its full height. Its tail shifted to where it was mere inches from his spine. It was going to cripple or kill him.

Before it could do anything more, shots hit it square in the chest and Blurr heard something clatter against the floor next to him.

He turned to see the monster's face with its eyes as black as the night. A bluish-purple mixture flowed from its mouth at the same time which Blurr realized was part Energon.

"Need a hand, Speedy?" A voice said instantly.

Blurr moaned as he turned himself to sit on his aft and was greeted by a familiar servo.

"Smokescreen!? How?"

The white sports car rubbed his neck, "Um…apparently, the monster wasn't targeting me so it shoved me into a room and thought I was unconscious then went back for one of you."

Blurr gave the rookie a raised brow.

"To be honest, I don't know what it wanted with you but it seemed determine to get you and you alone. Besides, that fucker began speaking in a tongue similar to the Metal Heads' but the odd thing was, it converted from Horaquan to Cybertronian for a brief second," Smokescreen continued.

"So this…thing is a Cybertronian?" He asked as he shook its leg to ensure it was dead.

Smokescreen shrugged, "Possibly, but we had better get this monster back to Cybertron before more come, if there are more."

A few minutes passed before Wasp finally met them with horror streaked across his face plates.

"What the hell happened? I thought you were a goner!"

Smokescreen lifted half of the dead Metal Head as he shot the muscle car a crude look. "Yeah, thanks for coming after me!" He replied sarcastically.

Wasp didn't respond and stared at the ground in shame. He followed them out after a while and kept his distance between him and the rest until they reached the deserted ship.

Blurr activated a few things before smiling at the ship's progress, "Hey guys, the vessel has repaired itself. It had rebooted completely before we returned. Jetfire was right!"

Both members grinned at the report but Blurr's smirk faded as he thought about the Metal Head and what Elita had said. To his horror, he knew exactly what she meant now.

* * *

Jetfire peered down the hole where part of the crown of the Sentry caved in due to the blasts it may have taken.

He whistled as he noticed the hole only showed more holes below it and a black pit. "Damn, it would've sucked to be the bot caught in whatever blew up this place. Hey, Brother, you find anything on your side?"

No one responded.

"Brother?"

Still no sound echoed his way. Slowly, he crept through the peak of the tower, narrowly flying over the large void, and went through the archway that was directly across the chasm of death behind him.

"Boo!"

Jetfire stumbled away before sticking his seeker claws into the nearest support beam. He frantically tried to locate his twin until his optics set on a laughing blue jet who was pounding the ground madly.

Furious, Jetfire slammed himself into his brother who hit the wall with brute force. His laughter immediately stopped.

Jetfire was about to take another swing but stopped as he felt the floor crumble beneath him. He grabbed onto his twin's leg and fell down the bottomless abyss. Before he could transform, he crashed into down into a solid platform and laid there motionless.

With pain engulfing his chassis, Jetfire stood up after a few seconds before realizing his brother wasn't with him anymore. He observed the walls and saw freshly made scratch marks leading all the way down to the pit.

"Oh no."

Under desperation, he turned into his alt. mode and flew down until he finally saw ground level and lifted himself from a skydive position into a horizontal one. He almost drug himself against the floor as he pulled up but luckily, the level allowed him enough space to shift directions.

As he transformed again, he began scouring through every pile of wreckage for Jetstorm. After a few minutes, he sat on a fallen pillar and put his hands on his face.

The love of his twin was the only thing that remained from his family. Both of them had lost their parents during the war and their little sister was another who was forced to pay the price of rebellion. Jetstorm was everything to him and he was gone. The seeker felt the lubricant flood his optics and run down his face.

His twin's death was his doing. Why did he have to fight him? The thought overwhelmed his mind like the Cybonic Plague. He did this to his brother, his best friend.

Jetfire mourned a bit longer but he felt something brush against his shoulder and a familiar voice which made his spark skip a beat. "That'll teach you not to punch me, eh, dear brother?"

The orange and yellow jet's gold optics doubled in size and his form shot at his brother behind him as quick as lightning. Jetstorm found himself trapped in a strong hug that he welcomed despite his twin squeezing the life out of him.

"Alright! Alright already! Yes, I'm still alive but I won't be for very much longer if I can't breathe!" He choked out.

Jetfire realized his blunder and repented to his brother who rubbed his throat.

Instantly afterwards, another voice was heard. This time it was their leader's. "Hello? Jettwins?"

"Over here!" Jetfire called excitedly.

Bumblebee crashed through a wall with Rodimus in tow. Both looked petrified despite their attempts to hide their expressions.

"What happened to you two?" Jetstorm questioned as their leader sat on the floor.

"Uh…we've experienced something that I don't think he'll recover from until his mystery demon is caught," Rodimus explained.

The Jettwins stared at Bumblebee for a good twenty seconds before turning back to the red and orange-flamed car.

Breaking the silence, Bumblebee immediately asked, "So, how was your 'adventure?'"

* * *

Smokescreen activated the comm. link on the immobile ship hoping someone could find the signal and respond.

"Ethiopia to Cybertron Command, do you read? Somebody? Anybody?" He sighed as Blurr walked in, "Well, apparently we're NOT going home anytime soon. How's Wasp?"

Blurr paused at the mentioning of the muscle car's name. What surprised him even more was the fact Smokescreen actually showed concern for a former enemy of his. "Um…he's better, why do you ask?"

"Oh, nothing. I just wanted to make sure Bumblebee didn't have to come back to any bad news about his brother."

The blue car eyed him suspiciously but let it slide. "Hey, Smokescreen, can I tell you something?"

"Sure. If you want me to keep it a secret, I will do that too."

"Okay, I've heard something terrible coming from one of our superior officers back on Cybertron. It has to do with Tigressa and her Metal Heads and possibly, this new species as well."

Smokescreen stopped what he was doing but didn't turn to face him. He took a minute to soak in everything his partner had said.

Blurr breathed before he continued, "This officer is planning to not only kill the new leader but she also intends to destroy Tigressa and put a Cybertronian leader in her place. Apparently, she wants to control the Metal Heads because if Tigressa were to turn on us, we'd be on the verge of extinction again and she considers that a major setback.

"She also believes that if this happens, Cybertron would divide again due to beliefs that Tigressa is good or bad. Plus, she told me that there are secrets that have been hidden from Optimus and Tigressa that are among the ranks in the Elite Guard, not even Ultra Magnus knows about them. The secrets are so horrid that it would make Cybertron collapse once again.

"By her words, she claims we don't need Tigressa anymore and that only those capable of holding power should be ruling over anything."

Smokescreen was speechless; any words he tried to say kept slipping through the cracks and coming out as small noises.

Suddenly, the door opened with Bumblebee and the rest of the team moving towards them.

"Blurr, you didn't tell anybody about this before!?" Bumblebee yelled furiously.

"H-how much did you hear?"

Jetfire shook his head while his twin replied, "We just got back right as you began, and we heard a great majority of it while we were walking towards this room!"

The yellow warrior snarled, "You have kept this a secret all this time!? Do you know how valuable this information is!? Tell us the name of the officer, Agent Blurr!"

Blurr grunted a simple, "No, I can't betray her! I'll be fired!"

"You'll be locked up forever if you don't! Now tell us, who is against Tigressa?"

The blue car peered around the room at the angry faces with the exception of Smokescreen whose face was posed in utter shock.

Finally, the speedster cracked, "It was Elita One who was arranging the deaths of both Tigressa and the new leader. She wanted Tigressa's to be an 'accident' which would also sacrifice one of us. She also is scheming on getting rid of anybody who is loyal to the tiger-dragon."

"We have to inform the Council about this, you know that," the warrior said calmly.

Blurr nodded and stayed silent again. He didn't acknowledge that Bumblebee had left until the roar of the engine of the ship echoed throughout the rooms.

Not long after, the vessel took flight once again with occasional backfires. Luckily, Cybertron wasn't that far away so there was a good chance they would make it or stop just outside the atmosphere.

* * *

The Metal Heads put on vicious shows whenever they passed him, some were funny as much as he tried to hide the laughter but others grew violent to where one or two would die from their injuries and the survivors would feed on their corpse to show they were dominant.

Optimus had awoken earlier that day, after being knocked out by a 32-ton dragon he recognized as Ghost, and found the Nest was practically deserted. The worse part still was that he was attached to the wall, over what he assumed was the Dark Eco Tigressa had mentioned a few times.

By what he could remember, Dark Eco was sentient in its own way and if you fall in or touch it, it will choose either to kill you or change you, whether it's physically, mentally, or both. A majority of the time, it turns you into something you won't like but it has been reported that it accidentally changed a few into their favorite animal.

Dark Eco had its ups and downs but one thing that was for sure was that it always gave the victim a great amount of strength, stamina, and intelligence for the form they become. It was a dangerous weapon that could be a gift or a curse to those foolish enough to make contact with it. Another thing was how it could affect someone so much when there was only a spot of it on the victim's body. For some reason, a single drop feeds on the life force of the target and grows as it infects the user's blood. Most died from that method because it destroys the blood cells more so than transforming them to match the prey's new form.

The substance was unpredictable though highly effective. It sent shivers down Optimus' spine just thinking about the procedure that went into becoming something else. By what he'd heard before the incident on Earth, the process was painful until a certain point in the transformation, and then it mellowed into bliss.

The Autobot leader just watched as it flowed and shifted dark colors. He waited for anybody, good or bad, to come but he had a feeling they had begun to mobilize their forces towards Cybertron.

* * *

The Ethiopia finally reached its destination where a group of guards and a shadowed figure awaited their return. Bumblebee was the first one off, and the others followed shortly after.

The yellow mech smiled as he approached the expressionless Vehicons, but his grin changed as the guards raised their guns to the warrior.

"What are you doing!? Stand down!"

None obeyed. They turned to the dark form who instantly stepped out of the gloomy outline of the building above him.

"I'm afraid they can't do that, Bumblebee. Such a shame you wasted precious time recollecting my newest pet for me."

The figure had a black, white, and red complexion with the red only a highlighted color on his frame. The item on his chest shocked the muscle car and his team, for atop his armor held a red skull gem on a necklace.

Rodimus quickly retorted, "Who are you and what have you done with Tigressa, her siblings, and Optimus!?"

The mech smirked, "My name is Acheron, the new leader of the Metal Heads. I'm afraid Tigressa nor her techno-organic kin cannot meet you at this time; she's…shall we say…no longer the 'alpha' anymore which means she has neither power nor friends now. Everybody's against her and most never believed she would fall."

Bumblebee glared angrily at Acheron as he ordered a Vehicon to fetch something he couldn't make out due to the leader speaking in Metal Head. He gaze went to the Vehicon who was sent to retrieve whatever he was commanded to get and noticed some parts didn't connect together anymore like they were loose or had fallen off before. The way the metal moved when he walked looked abnormal.

Puzzled, he observed the other troops and realized the same thing was happening to them, or already happened. One's arm plating bulged slightly before moving back into place without the trooper even shifting his entire arm. Another's head had something wrapped around the side of his helm that retreated behind him once the Vehicon noticed Bumblebee looking right at him.

The yellow warrior's eyes widened, "These aren't Vehicons!"

"What do you mean they aren't Vehicons?" Wasp whimpered.

Bumblebee saw each trooper repositioning themselves as he said his line. "They are Metal Heads! Acheron made them kill and pose as Vehicons by using their lifeless bodies as puppets!"

Just then, a screech made them jump to see a limping Vehicon approach them. While the others remained where they were, the out of line trooper dropped his weapon and put his hands behind his head. A sickening rip of metal made the Ethiopia's crew wince as the plating was stretched beyond its limits.

The Metal Vehicon pulled off his Cybertronian victim's face and began removing other parts off its body. As it did this, the techno-organic creature inside the "suit" began to grow as slime oozed from its original body while its head was covering its chest. The arms were shattered to reveal horrid claws and dark purple moist skin as well as the legs. When the last of the dead Vehicon's armor was torn from its place on the beast's physique, the monster's head emerged from its hiding spot and all Bumblebee could see was a massive Rhyno Head.

Drool rippled down its jaws at the warrior whose top priority was to protect his comrades. Suddenly, a feminine voice yelled out as the monster backed down slightly but still kept itself upon its hind legs to intimidate its enemies.

"Let go off me, you son of a bitch!" Elita screamed as two "fake" guards pushed her towards the group of Cybertronians.

As she was being restrained, the remaining Metal guards shed their deceased forms and showed their true identities. Most were Rhynos but some were newer species that none of them had ever seen before. One species was like a Venus flytrap mixed with a Piranha Plant from the Mario games Raf used to always play. Another seemed to resemble an octopus with spikes lining its tentacles and head.

"Elita," Jetfire started, "What is going on?"

Acheron sealed her mouth shut with a jaw clamp he stole and replied for her, "I know you seven know what she has planned on doing to Tigressa and me, but you see, the replacement leader she had hired was a double agent for me. He told me everything and I can't let that happen. Oh no, I earned this title after several million years or trying to convict Tigressa for her crimes against not completing what she had started.

"She was supposed to kill off the Cybertronians when she had the chance, instead she let them go and live a miserable, homeless life among the stars. A true leader always finishes what he or she begins no matter if they have second thoughts or not. Tigressa was a fool but when the Fallen was around, I admired her. Her power, her cunning, her army of merciless killing abominations! She had everything in her grasp but she threw it away for no reason whatsoever.

"Ever since I first met her by accident, while she was coaxing the Fallen into an unholy deal, I wanted to be like her but stronger, influential, dominant, and just: the things she lacked or abused greatly. I could conquer the whole Universe with those factors on my side along with the power to control any mindless creature on any existing planet!"

Bumblebee growled, "You're insane! Although you may have hegemony over the Metal Heads' minds, you'll never break their loyalty to their true master! The only reason Blitzwing was affected was because his personas don't have a powerful mind defense due to their rages against each other. Tigressa's siblings are only allowing you to rule over their thoughts because they know that despite her evil ways, she's still their sister and they are forever family!"

Acheron simply laughed at the warrior's little speech, "Oh, boo-hoo. Family may have a strong influence in some places, but others don't care whether their sires or carriers live or die. To them, they're only useful for about a couple years until they can't keep up with the newer generation's ways.

"Like a certain femme fatale said before, there is no more room for the weak, only the ones who have proven to be leader-material and the ones who deserve the designation of…'God'. You have no idea what I've done to reach the top, Bumblebee, but I assure you, Tigressa won't be a problem anymore in about a few days' time. After all, it's best to take out the weak links in the chain of life and let the missing parts be mended by letting the fittest survive and prosper!"


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Cell-Bound

* * *

Bumblebee didn't know what Acheron was doing up in the Cybertron Command Center but it was obvious it was nothing good.

A Metal Grunt walked to his cell curiously trying to get his attention. The warrior paid no mind to the creature and he stayed alienated from it even when it spoke in its native tongue. Why would it want his consideration? Finally, Bumblebee faced the monster who so desperately craved his devotion towards it.

It didn't say anything more but it scooted a data pad under the cell door, hoping the mech would read it. As it waited, it made itself comfortable in the infamous sitting, puppy-eyed dog pose the human pets made frequently. Once in a while, it licked its lips just to alert the warrior it was still there, watching.

Bumblebee grabbed the data pad and scrolled through the message that was left for him. It read:

_Bumblebee,_

_I know we are not the friendliest of creatures to you Cybertronian, but you were right. We will forever be loyal to our true master and nothing could break our bond that we have with her._

_I've noticed the hypnotized Metal Heads, the ones with the red skull gems, convert to and from the red and yellow color scheme almost like they are trying to fight the coding that bastard put into their minds. The Metal Head who brought you this memorandum found a way to break away from his mind control, hence why he's acting so nice towards you._

_I wish I could break you free and set things right, but I'm afraid my cover would be easily blow and doing something like that now would be a huge mistake I cannot afford. Thankfully, a majority of my mistress' army aren't the wisest of creatures which explains how I gave you this communication. I'll try to tell you about what's happening on the surface and what they plan on doing but don't expect a message to be sent every hour or day, for that matter._

_[I can't leave any signature or a clue to who I am for safety reasons. Although Metal Heads are as dumb as a box of rocks, they can pinpoint traces of a name quickly and my initials would be somewhat of a dead giveaway or a lead to a narrowed down list of names.]_

Shocked, Bumblebee set down the data pad and looked back to the small Metal Head before him. If another Metal Head was willing to betray his own like that for their original enemies, then there was still hope.

He whistled at the creature to come, which was immediately obeyed, and stroked its neck. He received a thoughtful purr from the Grunt and handed the pad back to an awaiting mouth. The only thing he could do was watch it disappear around a corner.

He had no one to talk to due to the others being locked in separate rooms and mumbling to himself made it even worse. He was alone, and he silently laid on the stone cold berth as the silence dominated the level he was on.

* * *

Optimus stirred as a few Metal Heads drew closer to him hungrily. He could tell by the saliva dripped off of their jagged teeth that were inching towards him. He rapidly breathed as he tried to rip his bonds off the wall.

Finally, his left wrist broke free right as one of the monsters snapped at him. He whipped his arm around to hit the beast, who flew straight to another wall with a loud crack echoing from its now-motionless body. The other Metal Heads whimpered at the sight and backed away from the Prime who broke off a few more restraints.

Dizzily, he stumbled as soon as he jumped over the small pool of Dark Eco from the wall and landed near the group of monsters. He hadn't walked for a few days and to him, it felt like he was learning to walk for the first time.

As he regained his composure, another beast tried to attack him but missed and fell into the tarn behind the Prime. A yelp emitted from the Metal Head as the goo climbed over it and began dragging the poor thing below the surface. The others could only watch in horror as their friend disappeared in loch with a few large bubbles replacing it.

Optimus turned back to the Metal Heads with a scary grin. They immediately got the message and ran from the Cybertronian, crashing into one another around a corner in the process.

Not hesitating any longer, the Prime navigated through the tunnels with his guns drawn. He began hearing voices after a while and knew it was the mystery captors who spoke a few nights before, which lasted until Ghost knocked him out with brute force.

"I am not relieving myself from duty! If Tigressa wants her pedestal in the ranks back, she'll have to fight me to get it. Oh, but that's right, she's in no condition to do that nor is she in a good position to threaten me! The only reason I keep her alive is to get the non-transformed Metal Heads to comply!"

The male voice was almost cracking due to the stress he seemed to be endearing. A female voice followed suit but this time, she had more emotion.

"I will not let you get away with this. This was not part of the deal we had! All I asked was for you to help her, but instead you took over an army that now loathes you despite the fact a majority of them are incapable of doing anything due to your mind control and you openly attacked the Cybertronians, which has made Elita scared that another Civil War will emerge from different opinions on the matter.

"This is not your planet to rule nor is Cybertron. Earth is free now from the cybernetic warmongering it has endured; please stop this while you have the chance or else, everyone will have no choice but to kill you on sight. This includes me and my siblings. Release them from their bonds and let them go home!"

The female's shadow finally was visible from around the corner of the tunnel he was in. Obviously, she was good but he doubted the male was the same way. He prepared his firing mechanism just in case.

The male started again, "I'm afraid I cannot do that. They are a constant danger towards me, restrained or not; I cannot risk losing everything I have acquired over the last several months. I shall give you one last chance: obey me or become a mindless, blood lusting zombie just like your family."

As Optimus turned the corner and saw the faces of the two, he instantly heard the femme say, "I will never!"

The black, white, and red mech quickly placed his servo on the femme's throat, who he recognized as ElectroHyena, and squeezed while the latter struggled fiercely. Swiftly, Optimus ran to the mech and grabbed his arm while he twisted the mech's hand to release the hyena. He did but his other arm swung around and walloped the Prime in the face.

The Autobot felt the blow compel him backwards until he found himself rolling on the ground with the floor's debris flying everywhere. He slid to a stop only to see a pede crash down on his weakened form.

"Well, I see someone has finally broken free from his imprisonment. I knew those wretched beasts couldn't stop you, but to be honest, I never thought you'd find your way here, Optimus," the mech hissed.

Optimus squirmed a little under the pressure of his foot, "What have you done to the Metal Heads, their leader, and her siblings?"

"Oh nothing really. They're only the brute labor of my army. As for the Metal Heads, I believe you can figure out what has happened to them. Tigressa, however, is extremely unwell due to her recent injuries. She needs medical attention but we lack proper doctors so she is dying slowly. Sadly, it's not fast enough for my liking but I want her to suffer. By the way, we haven't met before so let me introduce myself; I am Acheron."

The Autobot leader scowled at the mech, "Acheron, ElectroHyena's right! What you're doing is foolish! This madness will only result in your death and another war between worlds. Why won't you accept the peace we already have!?"

Acheron made himself more level with the Prime, "Because you all deserve what you get! Neither you nor the humans have earned the right to live like Gods. I am simply setting everything back to the way it was before our time, when there was only one God, which means Tigressa and I cannot both live either. One must destroy the other to obtain the god-like status we crave so much. There cannot be two deities in this Universe."

Optimus stared in terror at the insane mech. He had to be idiotic to believe he was the Universe's savior. Tigressa most likely knew she wasn't but never preached something as ridiculous as this lunatic; she knew her boundaries though sometimes she tried to overstep them experimentally.

Before Optimus could respond, Acheron pressed two fingers to his mouth and whistled. The result was large footsteps rumbling the ground he lay on. A few roars alerted him of who the crazed mech called over.

The golden eggs he could see on the ceiling were instantly covered by shadows with different colored tattoos and eyes gazing down on him.

In the background, he could here ElectroHyena fighting one of the colored dragons whom he recognized as her own twin, Spirit. The other brothers let Acheron hide behind them as they reached for the Prime's exhausted form. The pulled him up roughly and as he was being held in Poltergeist's and Entity's suffocating grasps, Demon's and Ghost's tails coiled around him completely.

"You see, Optimus, I am a God here and soon Cybertron will bow before their new 'Primus'. Little will they know that I will drive them to extinction all over again," Acheron crowed.

"You imbecile," Optimus yelled, "you are a Cybertronian. If you live, technically we won't be extinct!"

"Actually, yes, we will because you can't exactly have sparklings without a mate and if I'm the only remaining Cybertronian, whoever I mate with and have a child with will create a new species that'll replace the Cybertronians. Once I die and my sparkling inherits everything I own, Cybertron will be forever more a barren, rusted, metal waste of a planet."

Optimus didn't say anything more, only stared daggers at the genocidal mech. He observed Acheron click his tongue at the dragons behind him and felt them haul him away, back to that dreadful wall over the small Dark Eco lake.

* * *

Bumblebee stared at the ceiling while he twiddled his thumbs silently. It had been twenty-eight Earth hours since their disappearance from Cybertron. He wasn't sure whether the others were still living.

The secret messenger who kept sending him updates from Cybertron's surface sent over twelve tablet messages so far. Each one had new information which both shocked and intrigued him. The messenger's delivery Metal Head kept returning as well; it was always happy to see him but left saddened that it had to abandon him in the despicable cell.

Apparently, the messages warned him that Acheron and the Metal Head Nest were on Earth and most likely so was Optimus. Another thing was that the Metal Head armies have grown restless from the lack of the presence of their original leader. Despite Acheron's control over them, they still had a portion of their minds loyal to the missing tiger-dragon, and it was becoming noticeable.

Out of all the messages sent, one struck fear into his spark. Acheron was planning to destroy both Earth and Cybertron by eliminating its citizens. The news made his stomach turn and he couldn't help but place a servo over his mouth.

"By the Allspark! Lyra! Come here girl!"

Lyra was the Metal Head who kept transporting the mysterious helper's communications. He found the name fitting because 'she' had several white-blue dots on her body that looked like stars on her dark blue skin which represented the night sky. She also had a fondness over calm, angel harp music which he played from an interstellar frequency he picked up on from Earth.

After making numerous transfers, Lyra finally came back with no message and just sat on the freezing floor quietly. She awaited his command until he called out for her. She instantly was by his side with no seconds wasted.

"Sweetspark, can you convince my anonymous Metal Head collaborator to please break me out as well as my fellow comrades. I need to make things right but I can only do it with his, or her, help. Please."

Lyra looked in both directions before saluting him and trotting off towards the exit.

Bumblebee sighed as she disappeared again. What if the unknown colleague doesn't save him? He'll most likely be stuck here, rusting away while Cybertron becomes a just a large, useless sphere.

* * *

Rodimus, Wasp, and Smokescreen just relaxed on their own berths. Luckily, they weren't separated too far away from one another which allowed them to keep a portion of their sanity.

"You think we'd be already killed off by now since Acheron doesn't want any witnesses," Wasp said as he crossed his arms.

Smokescreen didn't comment back but Rodimus knew what he was thinking.

"Yeah, well, if we die, Acheron's head will be put on a bounty faster than saying the word 'good-bye'. At least, that's if word gets out we've gotten killed by a maniac with a malicious group of Metal Heads at his demand," Rodimus replied.

Once again, silence dominated the rooms with no hesitation. It seemed unbearable.

Suddenly, a noise of claws scrapping across metal sounded near the exit. It made them wince until it stopped right as it reached the door frame.

"Please don't be Acheron! Please don't be Acheron!" Wasp mumbled as a shadow formed in the doorway.

But as the dark figure moved closer, it began shrinking until it was as tall as Smokescreen's lower leg. Hopping happily was Lyra as she went around the frame to see three scared faces staring back at her. She smiled innocently as she approached Rodimus who backed away slightly.

Observing the shape of the cell door between her and the frightened mech, Lyra squealed and wagged her tail. She began speaking in her native tongue until another figure appeared in the doorway. This time, it was a much larger Metal Head with spikes lining its entire back.

Wasp remained motionless even when he studied the new creature. Then a crazy thought hit him, "Captain Silos?"

The masked Rhyno Metal Head peered towards the small muscle car and gave him a toothy smile. "In the flesh, boy. Now I say it's time to give Acheron a little payback for this embarrassment he has bestowed upon my family. Dishonoring them in such a way makes me want to tear his frame in half!"

Immediately after, the Captain unleashed his sword and shattered the gates and bonds that held the Cybertronians captive.

"Why are you setting us free after all we have done against you and Tigressa?" Smokescreen questioned.

Silos sighed, "Because I now realize that you are just like us. All you want is your home back as do we, and both of our species have a found a new one as well as the recovered old one. To lose it all after the effort you put into restoring your planet seems unjust, in my opinion. I may not agree with your species' ways, but I don't wish to help a madman destroy the one chance we've left to live peacefully with others, 'to make thing right again!'"

"Alright then, what are we waiting for? Let's find the others and save Cybertron and Earth. Oh and find Tigressa so we can get the Metal Heads under control before they start killing people," Rodimus declared.

All of them nodded swiftly and left their cages behind.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Exodus, Prison-Style

* * *

Rodimus quickly scoured each level for Bumblebee. He had already found the Jettwins with the help of Lyra and now he hoped she remembered the way back to his friend.

The Metal Head paused ever once in a while to sniff the air for Bumblebee's scent and continued on once she was certain it was his. After checking a few more halls, Lyra screeched as she approached a broken titanium gate welded together with holes only a small Transformer could fit through. Sadly, titanium metals were only vulnerable to high-heated weapons. At the end of the pathway was a yellow form laying in a rusted cell.

Luckily, one mech was capable of such a weapon, fire breath to be more exact. Jetfire instantly warned his friends to back away as he rose his core temperature. Like a Predacon, fire flew from his throat and melted the gate, leaving a pile of molten goop on the floor. All members jumped over the puddle and let the Captain use his sword to unlock the mech's chamber.

Bumblebee was startled at first, but when he saw the familiar faces of his colleagues, a smile grew on his face plates. "You…how!?"

"Oh, your 'Secret Admirer' broke us free and with the help of your new pet, we found you," Rodimus smirked.

The warrior looked in confusion at the elite Metal Rhyno, "You were the one sending me all those messages? Why didn't you come down sooner?"

"I was dealing with Acheron at the time. If I left around him, he would've sent Metal Cloakers to follow me, thus figuring out I've been in contact with the 'enemy'. It was hard enough getting the messages laid out for delivery with him always pestering me with questions about my Mistress. Damn fool doesn't know the forces he's playing with much less than the complexity of the world extinction plan he's been hatching," Silos scowled.

"Well now what do we do?" Wasp asked, "We can't just wander back up to Cybertron's surface without getting caught by Acheron himself or one of the mindless Metal Head drones he has guarding our ship."

Bumblebee thought for a second, "How about a diversion with one of us as bait? I mean, the Metal Heads are well aware it'll take a couple of them to take down a full grown, experienced Cybertronian, so why not lead them away from the ship, and whoever is the target can climb aboard as we're about to take off."

Captain Silos arched a non-visible brow towards the other mechs awaiting their replies. Most nodded in agreement while Smokescreen hesitated, "But wait, in order for us to do that, we have to decide on who's going to be the 'bullet-monkey'."

A silent pause and the motion of heads slowly turning towards Bumblebee made the yellow mech uncomfortable. The warrior looked from eye to eye with a wide-optic face and a blank expression, "W-why does it have to be me!? Why does it always have to be me!?"

Unsettled still with no responses from the others, Bumblebee sighed as he rolled his eyes partially before closing them, "You are a bunch of assholes, I hope you all know that. Fine, I'll do it, but next time, I decide whose going!"

* * *

Silos was right, the Metal Heads were as dumb as a box of rocks. The warrior found he could walk around them as normally as possible and they wouldn't pay any mind to him. It was awesome but scary at the same time.

Every passage lead to places he never knew existed on Cybertron. Some even were old private berth rooms (not in the good way)-turned-prison cells and knowing he was in one, after realizing the rooms had the same molded look to his, made him almost puke up half-digested Energon. Of course, up-chucking your body's only energy supply wasn't the best idea at the moment.

He skidded silently to a halt and peaked around the corner but resented it when he saw the big octopus-like Metal Head examining the Ethiopia. 'Why does life hate me right now?'

Up top, he saw his friends, as well as the two good Metal Heads, hiding among the wreckage of an old maintenance elevator that used to operate for the femme penthouse/prison. They had the easy job of wait and take while he had to become the main event for the Metal Heads.

Groaning, Bumblebee stepped out of the shadows until he was right behind the creatures messing with his ship. "Hey, Fuckfaces! How about a nice, juicy Cybertronian to feast on instead of lounging about on your fat asses, which I'm certain are bigger than this planet because over half the world is suffocating by your presence!"

A menacing, dark silence filled the platform with all red eyes focused on the warrior. Bumblebee's cocky grin faded as he heard all the monsters started to growl and wag their tails angrily. "Uh…is it okay if I say I'm sorry…or are my words already glued onto your brains?" He swallowed nervously as he began to back away slowly, still under the influence of the cold stares.

Not long after, the other Autobots and their new acquaintances observed a screaming Bumblebee sprinting to and from different corridors with a mob of Metal Heads clawing over one another in an attempt to get him. It looked like one of those famous Scooby Doo cartoon hallway runs with the many doors opening and closing to reveal the group chasing each other as well as the intended target.

The Captain couldn't help but smirk at the sight while Lyra barked happily next to him, and the others started a laughing festival behind the ruins. A few Metal Heads from the insulted group heard them but only paused for a second before continuing their pursuit of the muscle car.

Bumblebee made a few trips around the platform before yelling, "GET ON THE FUCKING SHIP ALREADY!"

Not wanting to aggravate the warrior any more than he was previously, Silos jumped over the barrier he was hidden at the rear of the rubble and immediately opened the vessel. As he tweaked with a few wires and control panels that were damaged during what he remembered was Acheron's "free-to-sabotage" order, he activated the ship's comm. link as well as the engines for takeoff.

"Alright, Cybertronians, we're ready to go. So get you scrappy, idiotic frames on this vessel before I leave you here! And make sure you take Lyra with you!"

Almost instantly, the faint laughter of the mechs he'd left behind ceased as a new noise of scurrying pedes echoed towards the ship. Lyra was the first to board while the others followed. Blurr, however, stayed near the entrance as the Captain prepared to close the open panel for when Bumblebee came aboard.

"Captain, you need hover near the third level. He's not on the ground floor and I just told him to remain on the third level next to the platform with the archway. I hope they don't get him," Wasp said worriedly as he sat in the co-pilot's chair.

As the ship ascended to meet the dock, Bumblebee still ran for his life up and down the levels until he found himself ahead of the aggressive mob by a couple hundred feet more. He spotted the ship and his blue comrade and hissed a sigh of relief.

Blurr clung onto the lifts that opened and closed the door on the vessel to prevent his form from slipping. He heard the familiar howls of the corrupted Metal Heads and knew Bumblebee was heading their way. His optics zoomed in on the warrior's terrified expression, which was soon replaced by an I-think-I-can one.

The muscle car sped up right before he leaped onto the stationary ship. He clawed his way up the steep grade to freedom but had to pause to kick off a Metal Head that happen to reach him before the others. He grabbed Blurr immediately after and pressed a button to make the door slam shut.

Blurr used the comm. link to get the Captain to take off, and as they left the citadel, he patted Bumblebee on the back, "Holy crap, you almost became Metal-meat, dude! Never do that again!"

Bumblebee gave the sports car a sinful smirk, "What can I say, I like my adventures dangerous. Puts some flavor into my life, after all, you only live once so make life worthwhile!"

"Heh, yeah, 'worthwhile.' I'd rather die happy on my berth from old age or natural causes than die doing something as crazy as what you just did, thank you very much!"

"Well, have fun with your dull voyage then, and I'll see you on the other side," Bumblebee beamed as he made his way to the pilot.

The Captain didn't say anything to him nor acknowledge his presence for the time being until the common deadly silence made itself conspicuous. "So, what do you plan on doing once I return you to Fortress Maximus?"

Bumblebee exhaled, "I don't know but we need to find Tigressa and Optimus. That's our first priority, and then we'll take Acheron down."

"You're sure that's what you want to do? That's going to be hard considering my Mistress is on Earth as well as your leader and I'm pretty sure I'm now marked as a traitor. Perhaps if we could use another Cybertronian or two to disguise themselves as Metal Heads to go into the Nest, we'll be able to use them to get to Optimus. As for my Queen, I only know she is hidden among the jungles of Africa."

The warrior scowled at his remark, "You're playing with people's lives for your own benefit. Although it's a good plan, we're not exposing an innocent being to those monsters!"

"Why not!" Silos countered, "They played with mine years ago, so all I want is to simply return the favor; besides, it's only like one random Cybertronian. He or she will be fine or die for a noble cause. Also, the way I see it, out there, it's the survival of the fittest. I suggest you start going with the flow or stay behind and rot! You're young, Bumblebee; you must learn that life isn't always just.

"Of course, the war on Cybertron sort of gave you hands-on experience in that department, not to mention a mental one. You'll see in time that we must make the hardest decisions to protect the majority we care about."

Wasp didn't comment on the Captain's speech, but Bumblebee continued, "Oh, like how you abandoned your people for a cause that was meant to harm the King and serve his evil daughter. Yeah, you're a really great family guy."

Suddenly, the ship halted quickly, and Bumblebee found himself staring into the merciless, yellow eyes of the metal-masked Rhyno whom had stood up after braking.

"My family 'abandoned' me! They didn't care about me! The only person who gave a shit about my poor, disgraceful former life was Tigressa, who willingly helped me through thick and thin even after she offered me a position in her army! She's the only family I have as well as the Metal Heads, and I suggest you get that through your thick skull before I decide to turn around and dump your ass in a cell again with those Metal Heads you pissed off!"

Almost on cue, Bumblebee instinctively sat down as the Captain said the last word. His face was in pure shock. None of the others made a sound, not even Lyra who had frozen in mid stride when the Rhyno confronted the warrior.

With nothing else to add, Silos returned to the pilot seat and resumed to operate the Ethiopia while roughly muttering a song in the Horaquan language. To Bumblebee, it sounded like it was designed specifically to calm angered Metal Heads, for after a few minutes, his voice went from stressed to soft and saintly. The change in tones was incredible.

The melody kind of reminded him of a Cybertronian lullaby most mothers sang to their sparklings. But that was the problem; he only heard it from other carriers, not his own mother. His creator was dead thanks to the war, and he was the last living sparkling from that generation born. After him, the femmes were called into the battlefield so they didn't have time to reproduce.

Thinking about his carrier forced lubricant to form in his optics. He wasn't aware, however, that the Captain saw his emotional breakdown.

* * *

Optimus growled as Demon pushed him forward. Tangling with a mech bigger than him wasn't the best idea, so he let the shoves slide.

As the others followed, the Prime just gave the black and red dragon a deadly glare and received air hissing from the latter's nostrils in a loud snort.

"Demon, you're better than this why do you not fight him out of your mind? You're strong enough!" Optimus said as he stopped in front of the dragon and faced him.

Demon did nothing in return. No answer, no forceful movements towards him, only silence. The leader grew impatient for once, "Come on, I know your true self can hear me! I know you're in there! Show me; prove to me you have the power to resist!"

No response. The others were as still as their brother though they sometimes shifted their heads closer out of curiosity.

Knowing full well the dragon could attack him at any given second, he invaded Demon's space while putting his chained hands on the brute's wide shoulder and shook the beast a few times. The dragon's limbs only moved like a rag doll's; his armor rattled together with no sign of any emotion on the beast's face.

"Demon? Demon!?"

After two more attempts, he backed away in utter disappointment. His expression was heavy with concern and fear, and yet, the large mech continued to do nothing, to his surprise. The dragon was as dead as a non-transforming Earth-based car without an engine.

"**Moquino, escoropa ci kavas saquey no vakel? Hadrana co-opamd sey vaja corona, Demon?**" Optimus spoke a couple sentences more in Cybertronian to the dragon until he heard a faint moan coming from his corpse.

"**Pirtura…seckn o paroko, lek-pao Autobot niyara**," the dragon responded in the same language. A smile formed on the Prime's faceplates.

"That's it, my friend, fight it! He cannot harm you; he fears you!"

Demon reluctantly shook his head as his eyes kept converting from possessed to normal. He snarled as he clawed his own face trying to get whatever it was out of his processor. With a loud roar, his eyes stayed in their normal state, and the weakened dragon fell to his knees. Optimus quickly went to his side.

Startled by the Prime's actions, Demon said between breaths, "Why…did you…willingly help me? If I didn't regained control, I would have killed you! You had a chance to get away, but you chose to stay with a monster. Why?"

"Your sister needs you, we need you. You're a part of our family now, and family never leaves one another behind, remember? Tigressa may not have always agreed with you from time to time, but she loved you despite the fact she has a hard time showing it."

Demon looked back towards his brothers who were still fighting Acheron's domination over their minds. Slowly, one by one, each severed the bond linking them to the insane mech. They helped their eldest brother up while standing proudly above the Autobot leader.

"Now that we've severed his control, I think it's time we show Acheron who he's messing with," Demon said as he turned to the Prime, "All of us!"

Optimus engaged his battle mask with a smirk hidden behind it, "Like the humans say, 'let's give him Hell!'"

* * *

**AN: If you're curious about what Optimus and Demon say in Cybertronian (though not true Cybertronian because I don't even know what it would truly mean), this is what it means:**

**"Mighty Prince, why do you play weak among the mortal abilities? Have you lost the will to fight for your brethren, Demon?"**

**"Never...will I truly fall so low, great Autobot Leader."**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Read Between the Lines

* * *

Fortress Maximus was one of the strongest Autobot war outposts on the planet as well as one of the largest Cybertronians to exist until he was permanently trapped in his tower-like mode and later died due to too much damage. It, for "he" is no longer living, now had everything, from the most advanced technology to the most powerful military weaponry. The Fortress even had a built-in Prison with top security and made escape practically impossible, both before and during the war.

The reason why it was "almost" unachievable was because Megatron once was captured and placed in the sentient being's Prison. He found a way to break out in less than twenty Earth minutes which was never revealed on how he did it. After his escape, inmates had high hopes they could do the same; none succeeded.

Like the Sentries on Moon Base One, Bumblebee learned of Maximus' great and compelling past, though it wasn't explained as much due to the Elders not wanting to poison younglings' minds with the notion of war at that time.

As the crew of the Ethiopia entered the dark battle-worn tower, several Elite Guardsmen, with their signature white and blue coloring, surrounded them, but unlike the disguised Metal Vehicon Heads, they did not point their weapons at the mechs. Unfortunately, they didn't do the same for Lyra and Captain Silos, who snarled as one poked him with the trooper's common Guard staff.

"Hey, hey, hey, put your weapons down! They're with us; both of them are not here to harm anybot," Wasp ordered which was obeyed immediately.

Silos, still on edge from the Guards' taunts, moved close to Rodimus with the spikes on his back raised like a scared cat's fur. Obviously, he wasn't a happy camper. Lyra crept towards Bumblebee and curled into a ball in between his pedes.

The Guards eventually escorted the group into the vast sentinel's chassis and into the Council's chambers, which was added to Maximus' frame after his death. Upon a high wall, Alpha Trion and his fellow Elders awaited peacefully, each crossed-legged and with closed optics bearing down on all who entered.

Among them, Yoketron, the famous martial artist of Cybertron, and Perceptor, who scrolled through a data pad fast. Both looked up to the arriving crew and kept straight, serious expressions when Jetfire and Jetstorm looked their way.

"Why, my sons, have you come here with two Metal Heads?" Alpha Trion suddenly asked, still in tranquility.

All seven of the mechs hesitated to answer, but thankfully, Alpha was a patient person. Finally, Rodimus stepped forward to the center podium and cleared his throat to let the Elders know he was about to speak.

"Sir, we've figured out who's behind the attack on Grimlock and the kidnapping of Optimus Prime. His name is Acheron. We were trapped underneath an old penthouse near Tyger Pax. Silos, here, helped us escape custody as well as Lyra."

A moment of silence drifted in the room before the old mech rose to his full height and opened his star-blue optics to gaze at the red and orange Prime. "This 'Acheron', is it? He has disgraced Cybertron for his actions against two leaders. Tell me, Young One, what does he plan on doing?"

Rodimus winced while the Elder said the traitor's name with a soothing, harmonic tone that did not mix well with saying the name. He peered up to meet Alpha Trion with his own eyes respectfully, not wanting to accidently make the old mech feel threatened by his presence.

"Sir, he's replaced Tigressa and has taken control of her army. Plus, we have reason to believe her siblings might be under the same influence that affected Blitzwing a while back. He intends to wipe out Cybertron and Earth's population for a twisted purpose. The Metal Heads are trying to fight and locate their leader, but she seems to have vanished. We believe Optimus, as well as Tigressa, is on Earth right now in the Metal Head Nest."

Alpha Trion's face turned grim at the new information, "He is treading on a weak bridge over a smelting pit. Does he not realize the danger he's put himself in? If he finds a way to conquer both our world and the human's, he will not be able to manage them both, nor will he have the ability to man the Metal Heads once they break free from the bonds that bind them to him."

"Yes, sir, but we also have come to realize he may be experimenting with other species, creating new breeds of Metal Head whom can only be controlled by him. We encountered one in the Sentry, and Bumblebee described it as a Cybertronian mix," Rodimus said shakily.

The Elder's reaction to this was still calm, but the others could tell he was shocked by this.

"And do you have any proof of this Cyber-Metal Head?"

"We did, sir, but before Acheron imprisoned us, he took its body. We luckily killed it and brought it with us on our ship right before we met him."

Alpha Trion stayed silent. One of the other Elders, Botanica, stood up and reached the Head Elder's stand, asking permission to speak. The old mech backed away from the spotlight and let the femme enter.

"Rodimus Prime and crew, I feel you may have suffered some space madness during your time away. How do we know you're telling the truth when you have no evidence to support your findings and recent stockade venture?"

Trying not to yell at the persistent Elder femme, Rodimus lightly growled, "Because we have been forced to reckon with a horrible ordeal, one of which I do not expect anybody to believe or take into consideration. We know what we witnessed and heard; I know that this madman will do whatever it takes to bring down our newly reformed empire, one bot at a time no matter how long it takes. If you still question my words, then I do not blame you, for no one can truly know what happened unless they were there."

Botanica glared deadly at the young mech but did not reply. As she turned to her fellow Elders, much to her dislike, she could see in their optics they trusted him, even Yoketron and Preceptor. With a scowl, she left the platform and returned to her spot among the others.

"Since the Council apparently heeds your message in your honor, we will help you chase down this new found threat. As for you, Captain, I have heard a great deal about you, both good and bad, and I do not know whether to help you or capture you for your crimes against Cybertron. However, if Rodimus and his team trust you then it has to be for a respectable reason.

"Despite my instincts screaming at me to arrest you, we will accept your aid in our new struggle any way we can get it. We shall help you find Tigressa and restore order to your species, but the minute you defy our cause before and during our rescue of your leader, you will be terminated. Am I understood, Ceros?"

The Captain nodded quickly in respect. Alpha Trion smiled gently and turned away from them after he uttered, "Good luck to you, my children. You'll need it."

* * *

Optimus could feel Demon's movements through his own frame. The dragon was running at a high speed on all fours and he was sitting on the techno-organic's back like a jockey on a horse.

Although the dragon didn't mind, hence why he allowed the Prime to ride him in the first place, Optimus felt a little awkward on Demon. Riding your friend around like an animal didn't seem right, but he still accepted the dragon's offer of faster transportation.

They had broken out of the Nest quite some time ago with his brothers herding behind him. Now they were surrounded by the luscious green plant life of Earth heading towards Primus knows where. The only thing that really mattered to Optimus and Demon was to get off the planet.

Demon wasn't concerned about his four sisters, excluding Tigressa and Firefox, for he found they had escaped shortly before he left by tricking the Metal Heads by unreasonable methods. The girls were clever, he had to give them that, but what they did, he didn't want to know.

Through the forest and rocky terrains, neither Optimus nor Demon spoke a word but the Prime knew wherever he was going must have meant something to the dragon.

After an hour of travel, Demon slowed to a jogging pace and acknowledged the scenery that held a river, a waterfall, the vast jungle surrounding it, and a cliff where the water rushed off of. The other dragons laid down among the grass in peace. Not wanting to give the dragon any more strain on his spine where he sat and where the spikes had graciously disappeared for him, he got off the mech in awe at the beautiful sight before him.

"Why are we here, Prince?"

Demon winced at the title but answered, "This was one of Tigressa's hidden nests that were abandoned years ago. Majorities of the Metal Head species don't even remember their locations; I, however, never forgot."

Still striding on all fours, the dragon reached the waterfall and steadily walked through it. Optimus followed but was greeted by Demon's form shaking off the remaining water. Despite that, he gazed at the cavern's metal covered room.

The dark pit was soon lit by the light of the technology that resided in it. The cave's low hanging structures had Energon veins set up around them while multiple consoles littered the walls, each reporting its own unique data back to the large mech.

"If you're wondering why all this is still here, I sort of reused it for my own personal lab during my twin's time on Earth but she returned a few times to ask about my recent projects I've been trying to achieve. The last time she came back was less than two weeks ago, but she sounded off like she was in a rush to get somewhere…or to escape from someone," Demon said while typing a new report into the system.

Optimus raised a brow, "A rush, huh? What did you say to her?"

The dragon hesitated, "I didn't; I only gave her what she asked and she left immediately after. Of course, I regret not asking her what the problem was, but I never thought I would see Tigressa in such a horrendous, scared mood. It was unlike her."

"And that's when she disappeared and you became Slave #1 to Acheron."

"Sort of, but I wasn't the first person to fall under his hypnosis. That award goes to Blossom. However, I am still unaware on Tigressa's whereabouts. Maybe she logged it somewhere for me to find. I'm already scanning for any recent logs."

He paused for a second before speaking again, "Huh, that's odd."

"What is?" Optimus replied curiously.

"The newest posts were made directly before and after my last encounter with my sister, but every time I try to activate one of them, it messes up the system like a virus wanting to break through."

The Prime took over the panel and typed a bunch of codes into the computer's mainframe until it released its hold on the messages. Both mechs began reading the first communication sent and were shocked at their findings.

_Demon,_

_I need your help. I'm too frightened to speak to you in person so I decided to contact you via text. Things are turning bad back at the Nest; a Cybertronian has just talked to me recently but I do not like him. My crew is becoming startled by something and most are on edge with him around. I can't shake the feeling something's terribly wrong with him. I wish for you to contact Optimus, much to my disliking. I fear whatever it is he wants will not bode well with my leadership._

_Tigressa_

Demon growled at the mentioning of the Cybertronian scum who had the nerve to go to the Nest. Obviously, that was Acheron, but it spooked him on how Tigressa practically knew she wouldn't be in power anymore. She knew that her number was up.

The second message made him whimper in sadness:

_Demon, my brother,_

_I'm afraid things have taken a turn for the worst. My army is hunting me and I don't have much time. That Cybertronian taken control of my babies and I've grown weak from his recent attack on me. He challenged me to a dominance duel that was strictly based on claws and dentas only, but the bastard cheated and activated his guns and shot me multiple times in my chassis. _

_I've lost a lot of blood now and I hope you can find me before time runs out. I will be near the Russian volcano,_ _Zhupanovsky, for now. Please come find me._

This time, she didn't even bother texting her name to prove it was her, but Demon didn't seem to care. The only thing on his mind was his twin was in danger and on the verge of dying.

"Optimus, do you think you can reach Ratchet and Bumblebee from here?"

Optimus didn't wait for the question to be finished and quickly navigated through the system. "Time to find out," he said with determination present in his vocals.

* * *

Rodimus and Captain Silos were conversing with each other, most likely about the homeland differences between Cybertron, Kanji, and Rozaria. Those two seemed inseparable and formed a great friendship in such a small amount of time. It was impressive.

Bumblebee had fixed the Ethiopia and knew it was ready to fly once again. Suddenly, his comm. link acted up, frantically vibrating his helm with its usual sound effect. **_::Bumblebee here::_**

**_::Bumblebee, this is Optimus. We're on Earth and we know where Tigressa is and who's behind the recent attacks::_**

**_::You're alright! And you found where Tigressa is!? Sweet! As for our new Metal Head Leader, we know who he is. Acheron captured us and placed us in an underground prison until one of Tigressa's Metal Head friends decided to help us break out. We've just convinced the Council to help the Metal Heads restore Tigressa to her rightful throne. We're ready to go back to Earth::_**

**_::Great, Demon and I may need help, for Tigressa's location may have been discovered by Acheron and her recent message we've found stored in our friend's files indicates she is in need of medical assistance. Can you bring Ratchet or Knockout with you?::_**

**_::I'll see what I can do. Don't worry, Optimus, we'll be there in less than a joor::_**

**_::Thank you, Dearest Warrior::_**

With that, the comm. link conversation ended. Instantly, Bumblebee ordered Rodimus to contact both the medics. Captain Silos didn't need to be told his order to get what the warrior wanted.

After a few minutes, both medics were at the ship's dock with a few extra soldiers: Arcee, Blackout, and Sideswipe. Bumblebee could tell Ratchet brought them because he didn't want to lose Optimus in case there was an ambush at the coordinates that was the volcano.

"Are you sure you want to bring them; I highly doubt anything's going to happen to us, Ratchet," Bumblebee argued.

The old medic glared at the mech, "Zep-ep-ep, I don't want to hear it! I'm not taking any chances. I have never trusted a Metal Head before and I'm not letting my judgment become clouded by any presumption by a metal Captain that Tigressa is alone on that mountain. Besides, I also don't want to treat any severe injuries on you if we do encounter the possessed Metal Heads on Zhupanovsky!"

Bumblebee groaned silently at the red and white bot who ignored him as he entered the ship. The warrior knew without Ratchet, he wouldn't have made it to this day, but boy did he hate the mech's grumpy persona and stubbornness from time to time. He could tell the ride back to Earth was going to be Hell.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Ambivalence

* * *

Like their first return to Earth, the ride was slow but it made it to the blue planet in one piece thankfully. Ratchet didn't nag any of them surprisingly and Bumblebee was happy about that, as his fellow crew members could tell.

Lyra was sprawled across the warrior's lap soundly, purring whenever he decided to take time off his data pad to pet her. For a Metal Head, she was a great pet. Bumblebee didn't mind. Of course, it made it hard to move around with the creature always following him around only to lay back down on him once he sat down again.

"Bumblebee," Blackout called, "We've reached Earth. Prepare to drive to Zhupanovsky; you're going to be the first one off this ship."

The warrior sighed. He's become the bullet monkey again and he still couldn't do anything about it. He called that bullshit.

Immediately as the Ethiopia entered Earth's atmosphere over Russia, the others slowly began organizing their weapons. They took their sweet time while Bumblebee had little time to check his own artillery. He could only mutter hateful remarks after the ship landed near the volcano and he was forced out.

Captain Silos failed to hide his amusement of Bumblebee's temper tantrum as he stormed by the Rhyno with Lyra trailing behind him, as loyal as ever. He just watched as he leaned against one of the door levers with his legs crossed at the mech sprinting to the large mountain with speed and stamina.

Running farther away from the Crew of Assholes, Bumblebee let his mind go blank, listening to only to the natural elements that surrounded him. Without notice, he regretted the decision as he hit the side of the volcano with full force. Most could describe him right now with the appearance of one of those Looney Toon characters that when they hit something head on, they look like a blob against the wall and leave a mark on said wall after sliding down from it.

It hurt like Hell trying to remove himself from his unfortunate place but once off the volcano, he twisted his head back to reality. Now was not the time to play around, especially on a mission that could save his future as well as many others'.

Frantically, he roamed all over the gigantic structure scouting for an entrance to a cavern or something close by. His confidence was dwindling in the wind each time it rose for something out of the corner of his optic and that object was just a hallucination.

Lyra tried to help him but even she had no luck. Primus apparently wasn't shining any ray of hope today, out of all dates, and he seemed not to cherish emergency rescues either. That was horrible God-leadership in Bumblebee's opinion. Way to go Primus for "attempting" to save your citizens!

After an hour of searching the entire surface of the volcano, the warrior huffed and tapped his fingers on his hips impatiently. Whether Optimus was already here or not wasn't too big of a concern but he sure wished his leader would give him a sign that he was.

"This is fucking useless! Lyra, you find anything on your side?"

The Metal Head only whimpered and innocently dug her claws into the dirt while glancing up and down with puppy dog eyes. He couldn't blame her; she tried.

Furious, Bumblebee picked up the nearest rock and threw it towards the volcano. An unusual noise emitted from the spot where it hit, almost like there was something underneath it like…"Metal? You hear that, girl? That was metal! Of course!"

Laughing hysterically, he stumbled towards the site of the sound and began digging with his servos. Lyra helped and soon, as clear as day, metal was visible under the layer of soil with a line that cut it in half. He dug more and more until he was able to trace the remnants of a door built into the side of the volcano.

Judging by the moist dirt that was trapped on top of it, it was recently covered. Most likely from a landslide by a powerful object hitting it or natural causes that accidently occurred within the past week or so.

On the door, mixtures of Cybertronian symbols as well as Kanjian were inscribed around it. This had to have been a combined domain for both species or someone admired both languages.

Not wanting to stall any longer, Bumblebee activated the door and barged in to see a lab with multiple consoles and a ball of Dark and Light Eco surrounded by several opposite rotating rings in the middle of the room. It reminded him of Vector Sigma with a few differences, one of which being that it was comprised of the dark matter as well as the light instead of energy in general.

He quickly scanned the room for another door and found one resting on a platform reachable by stairs. Through the second door, he instantly stood there frozen. Lyra did the same but with more fear spread across her face.

There, lying on a berth that faced the open door with life support hooked up everywhere on the mangled body, was Tigressa. A transparent blue mask covered her mouth and seemed to be attached to a gas that kept her dormant. Dark Eco and Energon were slowly being pumped back into her chassis that looked different from her last healthy meeting with them two years ago.

Silently, Bumblebee walked to her side and scanned the monitors with her vital stats on screen. "What has Acheron done to you?" He whispered as he noticed Lyra rubbed her head against the unconscious tiger-dragon's immobile tail, hoping she would respond. Only the sound of the life support breathing was audible.

Unsure of what to do, he observed her new form out of curiosity. She didn't change too much but she did gain horns next to her ears and a large, pulsing skull gem on her chest, most likely implying she took full leadership of the Metal Heads before Acheron screwed their lives up. Metal Kor had died a few months back in the Eco Dimension by the "Eco User", thus forcing Tigressa to take back the complete role of "Mother".

Other than those two major differences, Tigressa still looked like herself with minor armor structural changes. Her wings were now able to be seen which gave him the idea that they aren't retractable like they used to be.

"Bumblebee!"

He jolted from his position upright at his name. And when he heard it again, he saw Captain Silos enter the room he assumed was the Medbay.

"Bumble…!" Silos paused quickly as he saw Tigressa in her present state. He calmly walked to her with fear and tranquility mixed in his expression, or what was visible on his face. "**Escoropa ci sercripne,** **corakei sa, ninacosepai sa, Miatrina?! Jaruka mei sole! Jaruka mei sole, Tigressa!"**

This time the Rhyno spoke in Cybertronian. It sounded odd coming from someone who hates Cybertronians in general. Nevertheless, he knew under shock, people tend to say crazy things in many languages they didn't even know they spoke.

Roughly translated, Bumblebee could make out the sentences as clear as water: **"Why do you** **sleep now, so peaceful, so beautiful, Mistress? Come back to me! Come back to me, Tigressa!"**

The first sentence made no sense to him but after a few seconds, it dawned on him. Why was he so blind to the obvious facts laid out in front of him all this time? "You're in love with her, aren't you?"

Captain Silos didn't acknowledge the question, only slipped his hand into Tigressa's petrified one. He was lost to her and her alone.

Bumblebee wasn't one for romance, but he had to smile a little at the sight. He knew Tigressa would go against it however; Silos had enough time to spend with her before she returned back to consciousness. As long as he didn't comment when she does wake up, the Captain would finally complete what he apparently wanted to do all along: stay by her side as more than just a friend and a soldier.

"Uh…Bumblebee…Silos, we have a slight problem and…whoa, did I miss something?" Smokescreen interrupted.

"Never mind them, Screen. What's the situation?"

The sports car clicked his fingertips together awkwardly, "W-well, we found Optimus and Tigressa's brothers, but…um… evidently, we weren't the only ones who spotted…them."

Smokescreen gave the warrior a weak grin while the muscle car's optic twitched, "WHAT!?"

"Hey, I didn't do shit this time. Blame that on Acheron, not us."

Without hesitating, Bumblebee charged out of the room, knowing Silos would take care of the tiger-dragon. When he went back outside, all Hell broke loose.

Metal Head against Metal Head fought angrily with one another as the Kronos Brothers tackled two Bowsinks whom were gusting fire at their attackers. Luckily, the rebel Heads had their original trademark, golden skull gems while the other ones displayed their corrupted, blood red skull paragons. There was, however, the unfortunate side to this: the rebels were getting their asses kicked and Optimus was stuck in the heat of the battle fighting Acheron.

Blackout, Arcee, and the others were also stuck in combat with the red-skulled Metal Heads whom they had no choice but to kill.

Snarling, the muscle car stormed towards the nearest Brother, Poltergeist, and mounted the large mech with no effort at all. The green and black dragon said nothing to this and allowed it to happen until he felt Bumblebee steer him by the horns to face the closest Bowsink. The dragon could tell the warrior was not going to take any of his complaining or problems.

With a battle cry, Poltergeist lunged forward on command and stepped on any luckless Metal Head that crossed his path. Like Grimlock on a rampage, the dragon plowed through the battlefield, straight into the Bowsink's leg.

Out of curiosity, Bumblebee peered up to see the mega Metal Head tumble forward onto Entity, who got out from under the monster's massive jaw with a few minor dents. He could see the others immediately striking against it until its body was laying frozen. One down, one more to go.

"Come on!" He ordered as Poltergeist's speed increased towards the next Bowsink.

While Bumblebee dealt with Bowsink, Optimus and Acheron battled fiercely with swords creating sparks among them. The black and white mech slid his blade into the ground and swung around it, only to kick the Autobot in the face.

Optimus stumbled back but kept eye contact with his opponent. He twirled his own sword in his servos before leaping towards Acheron and striking the insane bot's side which earned him a bellow of pain. Before the Prime could do anything more, Acheron grabbed his wrist and rotated the older mech's wrist, forcing Optimus to drop his blade. He then swiped his foot under the leader's own pedes and knocked him to the dirt floor.

With a sadistic laugh, the mech raised his sword with the Prime staring at him wide-eyed. "Good-bye, Optimus Prime!"

Before he could send the final blow, a loud audio-breaking noise filled the battlefield and forced him and the Autobot to turn to the source.

Suddenly, a blast hit the Titanic-sized brute before Bumblebee could reach it. Stunned while watching the second titan fall with a hole through its chest, the warrior converted his gaze from the volcano to the dead Metal Head until he saw Silos waiting silently on what appeared to be a cannon engraved in the mountainside.

The Rhyno had a military posture upon his form while the "good" Metal Heads aimed for a group of oncoming Distorted. **"Cheka!"** He roared with his ears pointing downward for anger.

The cannon let out a low rumble before a burst of blue and purple energy emerged from it and blew away the altered Metal Heads. It was at close range to the ground so the blast sent a shockwave through the ground, alerting every creature within ten miles of its presence.

Poltergeist let out a small whimper and backed a little from the impact of the weapon. He looked like a spooked horse with Bumblebee being the doomed rider having to try and calm him.

The yellow mech almost forgot a fact he had learned about Kanjians during the time he had spent with Ghost and Spirit: although they are tough, mentally and physically, and hard to kill, their animal instincts can sometimes take control and make them feel afraid of simple noises and/or actions. Learning that sounded similar to a big, buff guy having a tiny, girlish voice when he spoke. An illusion or a fault of sorts; their common weakness is their own senses, imagine that.

"Why you slithering traitor!" A voice yelled whom Bumblebee recognized as Acheron, "I give you sanctuary, I give you a stronger army to command and you defy me!? How dare you!"

Silos only grunted until he shook his head with a growl, "I am no traitor to my race! I am only betraying you for my true master! If you call the Nest you've modified for your own personal use a 'sanctuary', then you are as delusional as you are idiotic! This army is not just a bunch of mindless soldiers; they are my family and they are not stronger, only corrupted in their own thoughts to where their true selves have been released! Although Tigressa made them that way to begin with, she programmed them with a choice also!"

"What choice do they have?" Acheron smirked, "For creatures with such raw abilities, your 'master' didn't exactly teach them how to think for themselves much. If that was the case then why can I still overpower them? They are only beasts on a leash; they'll do whatever their commanded as long as the person their serving offers them food!"

"You're sorely mistaken, Cybertronian. Look around you! A lot of them have been able to break free from your mental bonds! They know how to fight you off and they've been successful! You are no God! I don't care what you do or how you try to capture me, but I'll never submit to you!"

Acheron hissed at the Metal Captain with disgust and disproval, "You'll break someday; you'll regret your defiance whether it's direct to you or your lovely Princess!"

Bumblebee expected Silos to remark against him again, but to his surprise, a toothy grin appeared, "My 'Princess' has survived through thick and thin, what makes you think you can do anything to her?"

"Did you not pay attention to the recent events, Captain? Tigressa is injured severely and most likely dead in that volcano. How could she possibly live through something like a gun blast to the upper chassis?" Acheron mocked while Silos still kept the large smile imprinted on his face.

"I don't know, why don't you ask her yourself?"

Stepping to the side, he gazed up to see a shadow form over him and slip past him. Acheron's own grin faded into disbelief.

Bumblebee and Poltergeist had the same expressions but the warrior noticed she was limping with the wounds on her chassis covered in a transparent white, swirling substance that was slowly repairing the damaged wiring and metal.

Standing as intimidating as she could, Tigressa let out a fearsome roar with her new wings opened for dominance. No Metal Head moved at the sight of the large femme, corrupted or normal. She instantly directed her piercing stare to Acheron, who gave no hints of backing down.

The tiger-dragon said nothing, only moved her tail from side to side furiously. When Acheron moved slightly, Tigressa's eyes flashed bright yellow, and his form was covered by the femme's shadow in less than a minute.

"How are you still alive? You should be dead!" Acheron snarled.

Tigressa kept a strict expression, "You forget, I have Light Eco stored on this planet. Much like the Omega Lock back on Cybertron, Light Eco is a healing force while its dark counterpart does the opposite for most. You failed to exterminate me and keep all Metal Heads at bay. They know who their true leader is, and they helped me but they could not touch the Light Eco which would have repaired me sooner. Captain Silos, however, can."

Immediately, she turned to the staring yellow and red eyes around her and shouted, "Metal Heads, who is your master!?"

Both sides bellowed in agreement towards her and grew louder when she yelled the same phrase again, "WHO IS YOUR LEADER!?"

Slowly, the red skull gems faded back to their signature golden color with their eyes following the same recovery. The Brothers reared up and joined the Metal Heads' hollering while Acheron swallowed hard at their calls. He could feel the world spinning around him and for once felt fear overload his systems.

Optimus and Bumblebee's crew waved their weapons around at their victory and made their way to the large femme and the warrior himself, who jumped off Poltergeist and waited patiently next to the tiger-dragon. By this time, they all noticed her wounds had fully mended themselves with only faint scars lining them. The Light Eco vanished instantly into thin air with a small whisper sounding from it.

"Acheron," Optimus called with his guns aimed directly at the black and white mech, "You have been found guilty of attempted murder, treason against your own kind, and sedition of Tigressa! You will not be given mercy by death and you will stand before the Council as a traitor of Cybertron and Earth!"

Acheron had a blank reaction that turned into disbelief, "You can't do that! You have no right!"

"On the contrary, Traitor, I have every right. Especially if she gives me those powers, which I'm sure she's already have!" Optimus retorted while pointing to the tiger-dragon. "Tigressa?"

Acheron gave her a "please-spare-me" look which she acknowledged with distaste, "Well, at least we agree on something together. Captain, help Rodimus and his friends take our new foe back to Cybertron's Fortress Maximus."

As Acheron struggled in Blackout's grip, Bumblebee turned to Tigressa with confusion, "Wait, how do you know about Maximus?"

The large femme smirked, "Let's just say I've been around long enough to see certain things and…Cybertronians up and running before the Civil War. I know he's no longer sentient but he does make one Hell of a prison, I'll give him that.

"Oh and by the way, scouts have just reported to me all across Cybertron that not only they are sorry, but that you left a pink and white femme back in the stockades where you and your fellow crew were being held captive. Do you know her?"

Bumblebee's smile dropped from his faceplates, "Oh fuck, we forgot Elita! I-I…um…I…O-Optimus! Optimus, we forgot Elita!"

From a distance, both bots could hear an angry voice yelling, and they knew who it was, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU LEFT ELITA!?"

Cringing, Bumblebee muttered, "S-sorry Tigressa but we better go. Um, would you like to go with us and clear your name, or do you want to stay here and make life difficult for us when we only appear in front of the Council with Acheron?"

"Fine, I'll go," Tigressa rolled her eyes, "but if Alpha Trion starts any conversation against me, I'll kill him!"

"You know you're in no position to threaten them, right?"

"Eh…I only have so many years left ahead of me; why not make life a little more interesting before I die? Like humans have said over the years thus far, 'you only have one life so live like you have only one day left to live!'"

"You're going to kill all of us eventually, I hope you know that," Bumblebee mumbled softly.

Tigressa broke out into laughter as she walked with Bumblebee to the awaiting Ethiopia.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Trial and Truth

* * *

"Acheron, you have been brought before this Council, accused of treason against all Cybertronians, animals, and humans! Not to mention the illegal control over an army that was under a treaty with the United Cybertronian Empire which you used as weapons of destruction to blame the original leader, Tigressa, of breaking the deal and almost forcing us to consider revoking her privileges on both Earth and Cybertron.

"Furthermore, her father is helm-high with complaints and debates from his own council, consisting of leaders from across the five main galaxies, whom are starting to demand action against Tigressa as we speak. We're sending a messenger right now to put all these new problems on Kanji to rest.

"Now, Acheron, do tell us why you did these criminal acts and why you wanted to take it out on your own home planet so malevolently. Why did you betray us?" Alpha Trion finished with an insulted frown upon his silver face plates.

Acheron studied the Council members closely. Among them was Optimus, Elita, wincing every time the Autobot Leader looked her way, and Megatron, but Tigressa loomed in the shadows behind the old mech, sitting silently and loosely on the Elder's chair with her clawed feet propped up on the table in front of her and her tail lurking off the edge. She was swinging her shaded sword in her servo. Her yellow-red eyes were narrowed and one of the only things visible in the darkness, but he knew she was staring irately at him.

"Acheron, speak," Optimus urged.

The black and white mech sneered, "Or what, Prime. Are you going to sick Tigressa or her dim-witted brothers on me? Pathetic. If you want me to talk, you should come down and make me!"

"Oh, I'm sure we could arrange something like that," Megatron mocked, "In fact, why not give you to the Metal Heads you've imprisoned for so long. I'm sure they'd 'love' to meet you again."

Acheron had no trace of a smirk now. "Alright, if you must know, I hate Cybertron! You all think you're Gods, even the Kanjians think so, even the humans too, but you don't know what a God is nor what they are capable of. I wanted to show you true power; I wanted to show you there can only be one God for this planet as well as the others.

"You all bask in luxury and treat other species like scrap, especially the lower classes. You have no respect for those lower in title for you. The only reasonable thing I could think of to even the crooked table was to make you suffer the way we did all those years ago.

"And your precious Princess Tigressa is the worst out of all of you. She makes life a living Hell for anybody who isn't her own species! She's selfish, cruel, and uses her army for only…personal use…when she could use them for so much more!"

On the corner of his eye, he could see Captain Silos tense and dig his claws into his own skin. The Council looked horrified from that sort of accusation, and Tigressa still remained seated but with more of a hint of fury flowing from her optics.

Bumblebee snarled behind him, "You fucking hypocrite! That's what you've been like so far and F.Y.I., she has 'used' them for a greater purpose! She's killed many with them, conquered worlds even; she's the one who practically made the first Decepticon and haunted him ever since, though he didn't go by that title during his reign! But at the same time, she's not an idiot like you! She knows she can't be a God no matter what! The highest she could be is a Queen! She's better than you; every Metal Head is a better ruler than you could ever hope to be!"

Acheron turned towards him with a murderous look upon his face. The shadows casted under his eyes made it appear scarier. He scraped his denta together while his stare never lost its sinister façade.

Before both of them could say anything, Optimus quickly cut in, "Acheron, you're statements are unjust and those assumptions about your former fellow Cybertronians only applied in the past. The Civil War is over, only peace and tranquility reign throughout this planet. Every planet has problems; we have oppressed a majority of them. The classes are even, and we do not see ourselves as Gods, only mortals with natural-born armor protecting us from most attacks by any other species, even our own.

"We have learned what went wrong years ago and we've been given a second chance by both Primus and by Ghost, whom of which was kind enough to bestow the gift of revival, despite the spirits of the fallen needing a physical body to come back to. You are no longer a 'lower-class' bot; you've got as much freedom as I. The only difference between you and me is that I have earned the right to make judgments as has this Council. Rodimus is almost to the point where he'll be able to do the same."

Acheron continued to grind his teeth together as Optimus prolonged the speech, "As I stated before, your evidence against Tigressa is meaningless, for we already know this and have contained her behavior and actions; even she is stuck under our laws for as long as she stays on Earth or Cybertron.

"Acheron, this Council finds you guilty on all charges named earlier on Earth, this also now includes kidnapping a high guardian, holding eight bots hostage, and reckless usage of an army bound to one person and one person only. You are sentenced to life in prison with no chance or right for bail or a defender. Primus will not have mercy on you!"

Immediately, the Fortress' Elite Guards stormed around the black and white mech swiftly. Two seized his restrained arms as the others watched with no emotion visible.

"This isn't over Optimus, Tigressa! I will return! I swear it!" Acheron yelled as he was forcefully pushed towards the exit by another guard.

Optimus constricted his optics while the other mechs and femmes just observed his struggling. He was unmoved by the insane mech's threat. He had heard something similar before, multiple times, by the one who originally started the Civil War who was right beside him.

As Acheron left the Council's domain, Tigressa sulkily removed her feet from the table and stood up, connecting her servos together to stretch. She felt a few joints pop and moved to her neck which she heard cracking a second later. Admittedly, she was dead tired but she did her best to hide it from the surrounding Cybertronians.

"Tigressa, do you require anything before you take your leave?" Optimus asked as he approached her as she headed toward the Elders' personal passage that lead to a fancy villa where they usually conversed about different matters. It connected by one bridge and the outside surrounding it; a perfect place to fly away.

"No, I'm fine. I…just need to go back to the Nest and straighten things out. Besides, you can already guess I do not like being here. I still cannot stand Cybertron, and I highly doubt the families of those I've hunted before will be pleased that a Prime is allowing me to walk among them."

The Prime stood there is silence as the tiger-dragon squeezed through the archway which slightly splintered as she got her chassis and tail completely unstuck. His eyes roamed the floor before looking back up at the ripped doorway.

* * *

"Tigressa! Tigressa, come back!"

Bumblebee shouted her name over and over, but no response. He made his way to the villa but saw no one inside or around the area. She already left.

Silos heard his call and met him staring at the multiple ships docking and leaving the towers around Fortress Maximus. In an attempt to sound reassuring, the Captain said, "Bumblebee, she will not come when she is called, you know that. She can probably hear you but will not comply, for she may feel trapped here."

"Trapped? She weighs more than Megatron and is a tiger-dragon, how does she feel caged in a place she once attacked and almost conquered for the Fallen?"

"She most likely knows she is not wanted here by Cybertron's inhabitants. If she were to stay, she would gain a sense of disparage, hate, and loathing from them. It would haunt her mind and captivate her trust, leaving her to feel threatened and unnerved. She does not act well upon emotions like that. You've already seen some of it long ago," the Metal Head voiced as he turned his attention to the stars above.

"You know, I find it strange how much Tigressa sees in you despite she has only been near you a couple times since you first met her. I've noticed, regarding her behavior towards Cybertronians, she becomes concerned about you whenever something on Cybertron or on Earth goes wrong almost like…she sees you as a son…as Eve.

"She usually keeps it hidden from others' views, but she confirmed my suspicions after I saw her expression when I awoke her during the battle at Russia's volcano; when I told her what you were going to do, her face was horror-struck as if someone just told her that her own metal and blood had died. It was unusual to see her like that but that's why she was reluctant to go with you here. She was afraid of you; she felt she would hurt you, mentally most likely if you were to find out the truth."

Bumblebee stood there shocked, gaping with wide eyes at the Captain. "She cares about me? I remind her of Eve, don't I?"

Silos nodded, "She's afraid she'll lose you and suffer heartbreak again if you learned the truth and turned her down, just like Eve did because she saw her true side as was repelled by her real nature."

The warrior sat himself on the bridge in disbelief. "All that time? I wouldn't turn her down. I never knew my true parents, and Optimus, as well as the rest of Team Prime, were the only family I had. Arcee was like an older sister; Optimus and Ratchet took on the father role for me. Tigressa, however, I can actually see being a mother figure if she tried to be. She can be my mother slash friend if she wants, I wouldn't mind at all."

Captain Silos' ears twitched curiously towards him. The mask limited the appendages' movements though so it went unnoticed. "Perhaps you should talk to her. Clear this mess out before it compels you to do things you'll regret, the same with her. Tigressa would appreciate it."

Bumblebee smiled but didn't see Silos turn to face the visible city and mimic a sad expression on his hidden face.

* * *

Tigressa scrambled up the stairway towards the Nest's central egg chamber. Any Metal Head she passed just stared at her in confusion as she climbed upwards frantically. She made her way through metallic webbing and solid, Dark Eco-infused structures that grew naturally all over. It was an obstacle course to her.

She finally made it to the purplish glowing room where black, purple, and yellow-skulled seeds were stuck to the wall by translucent slime while being monitored by Metal Geckos who littered the spaces in between the eggs.

Calmly, she maneuvered around them, sometimes converting from the ground to the wall and to the ceiling over and over. She sniffed against a few and warned some Geckos that the offspring in those were ready to hatch. She could hear the spawns rattling as their inhabitants struggled to move in their tight area.

All of them looked so peaceful, so delicate yet deadly all the same. To anybody who didn't know the species, they would've mistaken the babies as cute, cuddly creatures which would lower their guard from the true terror within each.

Ever since Kor's death, however, the Metal Heads have been relentless and urging their mates to lay more eggs. Tigressa knew she couldn't control their willful manner, but it troubled her to see them pressure one another to repopulate what had been lost from constant wars and hunting. They were desperate.

As for the tiger-dragon, she admitted she could not rush a process like that, even if it was her reproducing an offspring. The only problem was she had never had a child of her own. The closest she had was Artemis/Eve.

Would she have been a good mother if she did have a sparkling? The mere thought made her feel sick to her stomach, not because of her being a mother, but not being a good one in general. What if she did something wrong? What if she lost her baby…again?

She gave a low bellow and paced near a group of Metal Elephant eggs on all fours. Then Bumblebee came to mind. The mech wasn't a child anymore, nor did he most likely want someone like her to be a parental figure. Much to her dislike, she had feelings for the warrior but only wanted to protect him. After Acheron's reign was over and hearing all the voices of her legion telling her what happened while she was immobile made her panic about him.

He didn't deserve to be in a situation like that nor did he be worthy of death at such a young age. She felt like tearing the world in half at the thought of him dying in the hands of a madman. Perhaps she was becoming soft? Old, now that she thought of it. The tiger-dragon was becoming an old femme with no sparkling to call her own and forcing herself to believe the yellow mech was a son to her.

She immediately scowled to herself. Some Metal Heads lay near her gave a small noise of recognition to her anger. Growling, she stomped past them to her throne that Acheron had placed in the chamber with a view of the valley below.

Tigressa clawed her way through the gold scattering the ground and finally felt at peace once she sat in her chair. She slumped against the metal throne and but her servos together silently. The gold throughout the room disgusted her and sent horrible memories back to her thoughts. The yellow metal-rocks were as useless as rust. They didn't do anything for her lying around here, and she couldn't do anything with human money so selling them was out of the question too. Disgraceful paperweights!

Sighing loudly, she stared towards the valley with an unreadable expression. Right under the gaping hole with transparent white webbing lie a waterfall roaring as it jumped from under the Nest's top levels. How steep the drop-off was she didn't care but it shimmered beautifully with a vast jungle setting its background. Perfect climate; perfect habitat to raise the newest generation of Metal Heads and perhaps a sparkling too. Perhaps.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Singing Siren

* * *

With the help of Captain Silos, Bumblebee managed to get to Earth quickly but didn't acknowledge any bots presence. He asked Optimus for the coordinates to the new Nest earlier and now scoured through the African jungle for it.

By the time he reached a clearing near the location of the Nest, his grill was filled with bugs, tree leaves, and something orange and sticky. Not minding it for the moment, the warrior continued on until he spotted a group of Flying Spiders resting on the floor while new offspring roamed close by, exploring their new surroundings.

Taking the hint, the mech found the entrance almost immediately after. The Metal Heads froze at the sight of him but did nothing to prevent him from moving inside, towards their leader. Some had their ears facing opposite directions meaning they were unsure of what to do about their new "guest". Others wagged their tail happily, for they considered him their savior for rescuing Tigressa, though Silos was the one who fixed her.

As he maneuvered through the Nest, he soon saw the Metal Heads staring at the ceiling, listening to something. He paused to see if he could hear whatever they were receiving and felt his heart drop.

_"May it be an evening star?_

_Shines down upon you;_

_May it be when darkness falls?_

_Your heart will be true;_

_You walk a lonely road,_

_Oh! How far you are from home;"_

Astonished, he knew it was Tigressa and that she was singing. Slowly, Bumblebee made his way to the stairway that leads to the upper levels of the Nest. As he followed the song's trail, he absorbed every word.

_"Mornie utulie __**(Darkness has come)**__,_

_Believe and you will find your way;_

_Mornie alantie __**(Darkness has fallen)**__,_

_A promise lives within you now;"_

He passed the main egg chambers still dazed and worked his way to the room where the song seemed to discharge the loudest. Pressing the control pad, the door slid open and the gold lay soundlessly among the echoes coming from another room attached to it.

_"May it be the shadow's call?_

_Will fly away;_

_May it be you journey on?_

_To light the day;_

_When the night is overcome,_

_You may rise to find the sun;"_

As he went under the archway that connected the two rooms, he silently gasped at the back of a throne in his view. Only her tail was visible along with the tips of her wings, but it was obviously Tigressa, observing the fading sunlight from her outlook of the jungle below. The song was as soothing and as voluble as ever now, almost like a lullaby.

_"Mornie utulie __**(Darkness has come)**__,_

_Believe and you will find your way;_

_Mornie alantie __**(Darkness has fallen)**__,_

_A promise lives within you now;_

_A promise lives within you now."_

The song ended but he could hear Tigressa breathing unsteadily, paranoid even. Either she heard him and was panicking, or the melody took the breath right out of her. "Why did you come here?" She instantly hissed. The former conclusion was true after all.

Bumblebee swallowed hard before gradually making his way to her side. She didn't look him in the optics but her face relaxed over the course of a minute of silence. "I…I want to tell you that you are a great mother, and a good singer too."

The word "mother" made her recoil with one of her ears turning to face the side. Retracting her fingers to clenched fists, she answered, "What…um…makes you think I'm a good mother? I only keep the M…Metal Heads in line. I don't see how I am a mother."

"You are because you're their mother; you're…my mother! The others consider you a part of our family, and you stuck by me all these years without me even knowing. You are more of a mother than you believe yourself to be. I have faith in you."

Frantically, the tiger-dragon's eyes couldn't keep still before she finally turned to face him. "I've never had anybody say anything like that to me before. I don't know what to say. Then again, everybody only witnessed the dark side of me. Heh, I suppose I forcefully drove them away."

"Yes, but we can see past that. We've been around you long enough to see your true self. You hid it from the world because you dreaded the events from 'before'. Artemis may not be her, but she loved you like a child loves her mother, her best friend, and I am willing to as well, but only if you let me," Bumblebee whispered as he put his hand onto hers.

Her yellow-red eyes gazed at his movement and in response, she willingly turned her hand to the side and opened it to let the warrior hold hers.

"Besides," Bumblebee started, "you deserve someone out there. I mean who's going to take care of you when you become an Elder?"

Tigressa slowly turned to him while raising a brow. "Boy, when I get to the point where I'm older than dirt, I'll still be able to kick your ass! I can also survive without a mate, thanks for bring that up."

The mech leaned against the metal chair, smirking, "Oh, we'll see about that, Mommy-dearest."

* * *

Silos grew impatient as Rodimus and Wasp planned their next training course. It was standard to practice and hone your skills for battle in case one becomes inevitable. But it bugged him that the two used the sparring room as their own personal "jungle gym". What's worse? He's stuck "babysitting" them.

He growled as they "accidently" broke two of the support bars on the ceiling barracks. Apparently, they were climbing up there and Wasp jumped on one of the beams that were weak. It broke and shattered another on its way down.

The Metal Head's eye twitched at the damage. He wasn't paying or replacing anything nor was he going to go down taking the idiot muscle car's spot in the blame game.

"You two **hepachis**! You're going to fix that and you aren't leaving until you do!"

Rodimus scoffed, "Or else what?"

Whipping his tail from side to side, he charged and smacked the red and orange-flamed mech into the nearest wall with all his might.

Wasp stared at where Rodimus was and saw his body partially through the shape of the Prime embedded in the wall. He hit face first in a spread eagle fashion but he wasn't moving. Quickly, the green mech ran to his side and pulled him from the hole only to see the other mech sloppily trying to stand up. The wind was knocked out of him and there was no denying he was going to pass out.

"What the fuck did you do that for!?" Wasp angrily yelled as he tried to keep his friend conscious.

"Well, that's what happens when you question my authority," he snarled.

Suddenly, his comm. link on his wrist armor lit up and he turned away from the stumbling duo to answer it. **::Captain Silos here::**

**::Silos, I've talked with Tigressa and she's accepted me as her son slash friend!::**

It was Bumblebee. The Captain gave an inaudible rumble and closed his eyes painfully. Disguising it with a fake tone, Silos replied. **::That's great, Warrior. You don't suppose you can bring her back to Cybertron, would you?::**

**::Well, she sort of wants to stay on Earth for a few months before going back to Cybertron so Optimus has decided to return here to keep an optic out for any more suspicious characters that Acheron may have made loyal to him::**

**::I see. I'll come meet her then as soon as possible::**

**::See you on the other side::**

The comm. link ended but Silos still kept the screen on his wrist active with Rozarian and Kanjian symbols running across it. He just stared through the window in front of him with Cybertron's sunrise visible in the corner. Something made him unsettled but he didn't know what it was truly. It bugged him ever since the day before when he spoke to Bumblebee about Tigressa.

His conversation may have triggered a remote emotion he was not used to. Jealousy, perhaps? No, it could not have been that. Why would he be covetous about Bumblebee wanting, and now having, a position as Tigressa's adoptive son? It made no sense and he didn't want this rumor to be actually correct.

* * *

_"You've got the words to change a nation_

_But you're biting your tongue;_

_You've spent a life time stuck in silence_

_Afraid you'll say something wrong;_

_If no one ever hears it how we gonna learn your song?_

_So come on, come on,_

_Come on, come on;_

_You've got a heart as loud as lions_

_So why let your voice be tamed?_

_Maybe we're a little different_

_There's no need to be ashamed;_

_You've got the light to fight the shadows_

_So stop hiding it away;_

_Come on, come on;"_

Bumblebee sat sleepily in the comfort of her coiled tail, laying cozily on it like a dog in its bed. The lullaby wasn't truly that but it did give him something to think about. How she learned to sing these songs he didn't know, but they shook him to the core.

_"I wanna sing, I wanna shout,_

_I wanna scream 'til the words dry out;_

_So put it in all of the papers,_

_I'm not afraid_

_They can read all about it_

_Read all about it, oh_

_Oh-oh-oh_

_Oh-oh-oh_

_Oh-oh-oh_

_Oh-oh-oh_

_Oh-oh-oh_

_Oh-oh-oh"_

Curled up in groups, Metal Heads rested among them, listening to her song. Some couldn't fit through the archway to the throne so they lay peacefully in the other room. If memory served correctly, Tigressa had never allowed the creatures to recharge in her chambers before, nor did she ever sing to them. Some of the monsters had taken over her berth that resided in a usually close door near her throne room, but she didn't seem to care.

_"At night we're waking up the neighbors_

_While we sing away the blues;_

_Making sure that we're remembered, yeah_

_Cause we all matter too;_

_If the truth has been forbidden_

_Then we're breaking all the rules;_

_So come on, come on,_

_Come on, come on;_

_Let's get the TV and the radio_

_To play our tune again;_

_It's 'bout time we got some airplay of our version of events;_

_There's no need to be afraid_

_I will sing with you my friend;_

_Come on, come on;_

_I wanna sing, I wanna shout,_

_I wanna scream 'til the words dry out;_

_So put it in all of the papers,_

_I'm not afraid_

_They can read all about it_

_Read all about it, oh_

_Oh-oh-oh_

_Oh-oh-oh_

_Oh-oh-oh_

_Oh-oh-oh_

_Oh-oh-oh_

_Oh-oh-oh"_

Bumblebee felt the warmth of her bodily armor take over his own. He glanced up once in a while curiously to see if Tigressa was watching him. She wasn't entirely, but she did check up on him every few verses wondering if he fell asleep yet. Finally, she bent over the arm of her chair and nuzzled his cheek like a mother animal does with her offspring.

_"Yeah, we're all wonderful, wonderful people;_

_So when did we all get so fearful?_

_Now we're finally finding our voices;_

_So take a chance, come help me sing this;_

_Yeah, we're all wonderful, wonderful people;_

_So when did we all get so fearful?_

_And now we're finally finding our voices;_

_Just take a chance, come help me sing this;_

_I wanna sing, I wanna shout,_

_I wanna scream 'til the words dry out;_

_So put it in all of the papers,_

_I'm not afraid_

_They can read all about it_

_Read all about it, oh_

_Oh-oh-oh_

_Oh-oh-oh_

_Oh-oh-oh_

_Oh-oh-oh_

_Oh-oh-oh_

_Oh-oh-oh"_

He could hear Tigressa purring against him and felt shocked when she actually climbed off her throne and curved around him protectively. Without hesitating, he got off of her tail and cuddled close to her chassis. Now a large tiger-dragon with a small Cybertronian cub were together with Tigressa posed around him like a cat with him nestled near her chest with her arms cradled over him. She continued to sing the last chorus.

_"I wanna sing, I wanna shout,_

_I wanna scream 'til the words dry out;_

_So put it in all of the papers,_

_I'm not afraid_

_They can read all about it_

_Read all about it, oh-oohhh"_

Smiling, the warrior drifted into recharge with his new mother following behind while cancelling out the snores from the Metal Heads surrounding them.

* * *

**AN: For the term, "Siren", it refers to the mythical singing water nymphs that used to lure sailors to their deaths by singing. She doesn't do that but she can sing and has killed people in the past. The word, "hepachis", as you can guess, means idiots or morons.**

**The songs are "May it Be" by Enya and "Read All About it" by Emeli Sandé. **

**Just in case you forgot, I do not own anybody except Tigressa, Silos, and a good chunk of the Metal Heads.**


	12. Epilogue

Epilogue:

Optimus and Megatron were deep in a conversation Bumblebee assumed was about the Prime's escape and what it was like to be in the Nest for such a long period of time. Of course, the Nest was different now since Tigressa regained her position as the Metal Head Leader.

Lyra, his now faithful pet, was curled in a ball on Grimlock who apparently forgot the little Head was even on his back. She made a great friend and Tigressa had told him everything a Metal Head required to be kept as pets. That meant Lyra needed identification or else she'd be thrown back into the army as a soldier, she ate up to one ton of food per day (which if not fed the necessary amount, she was prone to start killing for meals), and other small deeds. It was like taking care of a dog on Red Bull and steroids with a black hole for a stomach.

Other Cybertronians were playing with various Metal Heads while some even began sitting on the bigger ones that stayed below on the bridges that allowed passage to the Fortress. One femme he remembered to be Firefox was happily chasing her twin and a couple of other mechs while her back was aflame. They were playing a dangerous version of tag, fire style, which forced whoever was it to get the next person lit until only one remained untouched.

He turned and listened to Arcee and the other femmes chat about who they wanted as mates when a familiar voice caught his audio receptors. It was faint but he snuck through the building immediately to eavesdrop some more.

"You really haven't changed, have you? Your plan to do…THAT…is just insane! Homicide! Hell, even suicide! Have you forgotten what happened last time?"

"I know! You don't think I don't remember! I have enough scars to remind me. Besides, I never said I was planning on surviving this last stand. Either I win or I go down in battle, and that's final!"

"My Mistress, you cannot engage her! You know she has your persona as well as your skills on the battlefield! You'll achieve nothing!"

Something caught Bumblebee's throat as he recognized the voices to be Tigressa and the Captain who had guards protecting their private session just next to his position.

"Captain, you swore loyalty to me years ago. I do not recollect a day I didn't have you by my side throughout my life, but why do you question what I want? Is it not appealing to you? If we get rid of her, I can let the past be the past, not the present no longer," the tiger-dragon scowled.

Silos' brows arched with a thin line of a mouth set on his face, "Your madness, this…obsession, will only drive you and those around you into chaos. You won't accept the fact that Eve lives on without your guidance. She is not under your command anymore, nor is her new body willing to let you take control. You know you cannot survive with her alive because you feel guilty of what you've done! You want to erase the past but face it, it will remain no matter what you do, my 'Queen!'"

Roaring at the Rozarian, Tigressa's optics twitched while she grinded her teeth, "You stubborn reptile, I feel no such emotion! I have done nothing; she betrayed ME! I am no monster to her!"

"Then what are you then? Surely, you don't believe you're her savior or ours! You can't face the truth nor do you want to! Leave her alone, and perhaps set an example for your new adopted teenager! If he were to see you in this state, he'll abandon you to look for help for both you and Artemis! Besides, even if this 'plan' of yours does take effect, I highly doubt your darling baby boy will be powerful enough to stop it and he'll most likely be stuck in the damn crossfire!"

Tigressa hissed menacingly as she instantly picked up the Metal Head and threw him against the nearest wall. Her arm pinned him as she spoke, "You will not mock my son, Silos! Your tongue will get you nowhere and that attitude deserves a punishment worse than death. You dare insult my family and me, and you'll find I have been holding back my anger for so long which has formed into a brutal strength I am willing to unleash upon you, 'Captain!'

"I don't care if you wish to stay in the protective environment of my Nest, but I will destroy the one who caused me pain for all those centuries of hiding a bloodlust for both Cybertronians and humans. I tried to give her what she wanted but she used me like an animal, a pet on an invisible leash. I'm tired of having to watch Eve's descendants roam a world they did not deserve, and this time, I'll make sure to force each and every one to suffer for her infidelity!"

Silos' eyes widened but he did not conceal his sharp, toothy scowl, "You are an animal, Tigressa, and nothing will change that. Although, I agree with you about Eve's decedents, I cannot fathom why you're doing this now. You just gained a Cybertronian warrior for a son and now you're risking everything you have been given back? Did you not think this through, oh 'precious leader', because only an idiot would give up a life you have now. Also, am I not a part of your family?

"You seem to forget, I gave you your skills! I helped you create an army of powerful, abominable creatures. I made you who you are! Tell me, these facts are not true! Tell me, I am lying, Mistress!"

Expecting something bad, Silos cringed in her grasp but nothing happened. Instead, Tigressa lowered him while her expression turned to one of disbelief. In the corner of his eye, he saw the other Metal Head guards looking puzzled at them. They had their ears posed curiously but some didn't even move a muscle.

No answer still came after a few minutes of dead silence. Bumblebee leaned against the wall with his hand on his mouth. He held back lubricant forming in his optics before he heard Tigressa giving a low bellow.

Silos sighed, "Face facts, Tigressa, you won't win whether you kill her or the human population. You can't see it, but we can; you're losing touch on reality. Your mind is slowly collapsing on itself, but you choose to ignore the obvious. Please, stand down and allow us, allow me, to succor you!"

"I'm afraid I've made my verdict clear. I will not bow to your answer," Tigressa muttered.

Closing his saddened eyes, he turned away from her while she looked up at the window covering the night sky. "You will thank me one day, old friend. I promise you, I will bring our army a new home and we can live 'happily ever after' as the humans would say. Besides, my 'son' will be my ticket to a new future together. You, he, my army, and I will begin again, and if I must shatter the truce Optimus and I have, then so be it!"

"What have you done, Tigressa?" Silos whispered to her.

Bumblebee silently made a break towards the party and shoved his way back through the crowd once he reached it. Not acknowledging anybody, he made his way to his ship and sank into the pilot's seat with his hands clasped around her legs, holding them against his body.

He finally had a chance to be happy and Tigressa was going to ruin everything because of Artemis being still alive? He should have known better than to trust her.

What did she do?


End file.
